Chronicles of War
by swordofsanghelios
Summary: During the second battle of Geonosis during the clone wars, the Pillar of Autumn and her crew accidentally drop in with a hostile Covenant force. Trying to survive, the UNSC and the Republic fight back against the Covenant. But will the Republic stop the Covenant, or simply be it's next victim?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: This is my first fanfic, so as the standard drill goes, no flames. I'm a beginning writer with a cool idea for a Halo and Star Wars crossover. This is probably going to be something small but I may continue it if my responses are good.**

 **I own nothing other than a few OC's, but I thank the creators of Halo and Star Wars for allowing me to dabble in their work. Now without further ado.**

 _UNSC Pillar of Autumn_

System: Unknown

18:31 Military Calendar

Inside the once peaceful space filled with a mix of a dark abyss and the bright wonder of the stars came large portals that seemed to pull the fabric of reality open and closed again as three ships of the UNSC exited them. The largest ship, _The Pillar of Autumn_ was the largest of the three ships that barely escaped sudden death during the battle of Reach, as the unstoppable force of the mighty Covenant laid waste to planet's defenses and destroyed everything.

The Autumn's deck contained the Captain of the vessel, Captain Jacob Keyes, who was currently smoking a pre-21st century pipe, passed down as a family heirloom, attempting to relieve some stress of the previous battle on Reach. But nothing could do the trick, his only hope was that the Covenant didn't discover Earth's location, for the time being at least. After the battle, Cortana, the ship's AI, was running diagnostics of the ship's that exited the slipspace portals, and listing off all the possible places the vessels ended up.

"Cortana, all I need to know is did we lose them." Keyes said to Cortana, who then proceeded to take another smoke of his pipe.

Cortana replied in a calm, reassuring voice, "I think we both know the answer to that."

"How many made it out of Reach with us?" Keyes questioned the AI, who appeared on the holo-table in a glow of blue and purple.

"Well other than the Autumn, two Charon-class frigates made it out, one with a hefty amount of Longsword fighters, marines, and supplies, while the other is running on a skeleton crew with, lets say, below the standard amount of needed equipment."

"And our location?"

"Still unknown Captain, I've been attempting to pinpoint the stars in the system, but nothing seems to match any of my charts. I assumed we would be far away from Reach after that blind jump, but I'm not sure how far we did go. At light speed my maneuvering options were limited."

Keyes scratched the back of his head in confusion, contemplating what they could possibly do next in their situation.

"Cortana, what about that planet in front of us? Does it match anything in our database?"

"I was just looking into that…" Cortana paused as she searched everything inside the computers of the Autumn. "No, but there does seem to be some activity in orbit."

"What kind of activity?" Keyes turned and walked to a deck officer who was running a scan on what appeared to be several ships in combat over the planet's orbit.

"From what I can tell, some sort of battle is commencing, and I believe I detect large amounts of plasma energy on the surface, the battle may have gone planetside."

"Are they Covenant?"

Cortana shook her head at the Captain, who went back to the main computer that now had a zoomed imagery of the battle. "No, none of the ship's out there are known to me… wait!"

"What is it Cortana?"

"Out of the five ships, no wait, four, one of them was just destroyed, two of the rugged-looking ships seem to be in retreat, while the other triangular shaped ships seem to be heading towards us."

Rubbing his chin, Keyes raised his voice so that everyone on the deck could here his orders, "Put the ship on full combat alert alpha, I want the MAC's on all of our ships ready to fire, and get us into a better position." The crew went to quick work, computer's went alive and alarms roared over the intercom. "And Cortana, wake him up."

 _ **The Resolute, orbit of Geonosis**_

After several long days of successfully destroying the majority of the enemy's troops, news that the Separatists were cornered gave Obi Wan relief, but was still very wary of the possible dangers that the Geonosians had up their sleeves, which was shown when the Separatists had retaken the planet with ease.

After nearly dying time and time again, and the heavy losses the Republic had taken, Obi Wan was glad they would soon leave the desert world.

The only problem was the enemy reinforcements. Soon after victory was in sight, the Separatists made a counterattack and attempted to destroy what was left of the Republic fleet, but while the Separatists were repelled, most of the fleet was either destroyed or heavily damaged, and thousands of battle droids were able to regroup with the main factory. 'But that is Anakin's problem', he thought to himself, thankful he was back in the _Resolute_ and had spent some quality time in a bacta tank as the Separatists had been driven away. As far as he new, Anakin and Master Unduli were assaulting the main factory.

"Sir!" A clone officer pulled Obi Wan from his thoughts. "Sorry to bother you sir, but we have detected three strange energy readings several clicks on our side."

Grooming his beard, Obi Wan walked onto the command deck and approached Admiral Yularen, who was overseeing a readout of the unidentified ships that came from nowhere.

"Ah, General, good to see you here sir!" Yularen greeted Obi Wan with his calm, european voice. "As you may know, after we forced the Separatists to retreat, we detected three strange ships, one the size of a Venator-class cruiser," He gestured to a hologram of the three ships, a red flash appeared on the largest one, "While the other two are about a third the size, possibly some kind of light cruiser." The red light then flashed over the other two. "So now we are moving towards them, and attempting to contact them now."

Soon the visual screen in the front of the deck came to life and a seemingly middle-aged man with a military haircut and uniform appeared, who seemed puzzled at the sight of Obi Wan and Yularen. Behind him were several men in similar looks stationed at various computers

"Greetings," Yularen began, "I am Admiral-"

"Let me guess," the man on the screen interrupted Yularen, much to the displeasure of the Admiral, "You guys are a bunch of innie's that got your hands on Covenant technology? How did you guys make it out this far away from the colonies?"

"How dare you disrespect me? And what do you mean by this Covenant? We know nothing of you, or where you come from!" Yularen shot back in a harsh tone.

"Well in that case, Cortana, looks like you were right about this one." He seemed to be addressing someone that was out of both Obi Wan and Yularen's sight. "I am Captain Jacob Keyes of the UNSC, pardon me for the intrusion but we don't seem to be from around here."

"Apologizes can be continued later, for now, we need you to leave, this is Republic space and if you don't comply, we will respond with deadly force." The Admiral wasted no time letting Captain Keyes know he meant business. "As I was stating before, I am Admiral Yularen of the Galactic Republic, and you-" Yularen was interrupted once again.

" _Sir!"_ A female, almost robotic voice seemed to be speaking to Keyes in an alarmed tone. " _Several slipspace contacts are being detected behind us, I advise we move past this, Republic, and get some safe distance from the Covenant!"_

"Copy that Cortana." Keyes then turned back to the confused Admiral.

The _Pillar of Autumn_ rushed forward, pressing past the two Republic cruisers followed by the pair of Charon-class frigates. At the same time, four CCS Battlecruisers came out of each of their respective portals, followed by a rain of plasma bearing upon the UNSC ships.

"What is going on?" Obi Wan exclaimed as the crew went to work attempting to counter the surprise attack.

"It's the Covenant, we need to get out of here!" Keyes closed the communications, and the three vessels continued their attempt to evade the onslaught. The Covenant ships immediately attacked the unprepared Republic forces, and quickly crippled one of them in a matter of minutes.

The UNSC forces turned their vessels around, aiming their MAC guns at the Covenant battlecruisers as they engaged the remaining Republic forces. One CCS Battle was already destroyed before the MAC's could fire, but when they did, another battlecruiser was heavily damaged, but it wasn't enough, the Covenant had caught them off guard and had superior firepower.

As the battle continued, one of the Charon-class frigates was already destroyed, and the other one had been evacuated after it fired it's last MAC round into the shields of a battlecruiser, giving the crew enough time to abandon ship.

The Republic however, was not having much luck either, already one of his ships was nearly too damaged to be in combat and Obi Wan felt they would soon be next. After seeing this _UNSC_ attempt to escape to the planet's orbit, and one of them was already destroyed, he had little hope of success. Seeing no chance, Obi Wan quickly ordered the _Resolute_ to evacuate the majority of personnel into escape pods, and escape.

This Covenant, as they are called, was clearly far more powerful than the normal enemy he was use too, and the same effect of dealing with this new threat seemed to hit everyone else on the deck. But the feelings were shaken along with the rest of the ship, which was clearly caused by the strange enemy attempting to board the _Resolute._ Out of the deck's view, several boarding craft rushed at its side, followed by strange looking, teardrop-shaped fighters deployed by the Covenant.

"Deploy the fighters!" Yularen ordered a clone officer, who rushed at his top speed to the bay, comlink in hand. Soon, dozens of ARC-170's flew out of the bay, ready to engage the large, teardrop-shaped fighters. "Once we deal with this, I will personally interrogate the 'Captain' of that primitive vessel."

"I'm not sure we can face them on our own, Admiral, we only have two cruisers and this, _Covenant_ , seems much more powerful than droids we normally face." Obi Wan replied to the frustrated Admiral, who merely stared at the ongoing battle, hoping for something help their situation.

"What of the, UNSC? Surely they had something to do with this!"

Obi Wan shook his head in disagreement, "No, they already lost one of their smaller cruisers, and seem to be evacuating the other, we NEED reinforcements." The ship began to shake after another hit from the Covenant ship punches through the shields. "Evacuate what forces we can, see if we can get someone on the UNSC ship!"

Yularen nodded and relayed the order to everyone on the deck. And soon, dozens of shuttles and escape pods shot out of the _Resolute_ like cannons into the fray.

 _Pillar of Autumn_

Keyes cursed under his breath, which was followed by a sudden gasp as the emergency thrusters kicked into gear and accelerated the _Autumn_ past the Republic ships. Even under the barrage of plasma, the impact of a boarding party shook the deck, causing Keyes to nearly fall.

"Cortana?" The concerned Captain asked frantically, attempting to regain his footing.

"Here sir, I'm guessing that was an antimatter charge caused by one of their boarding parties." She paused as she reappeared on the holo-table. "I have marines and crewmen getting ready for evacuation, and the Chief is on his way to meet up with them at the escape pods."

"Tell him to get himself up here, ASAP, I need him to protect you, we can't have the Covenant get their hands on you."

"Aye sir." Cortana continued with her evacuation plans and began to pull simulated scenarios of their possible survival.

"Captain! Fire control to the main cannon is offline!" A deck officer shouted in worry.

"Captain, that cannon was my last defensive option!" Cortana then began to run diagnostics of the fire control, which sure enough, was damaged by a Covenant boarding party.

"That's it, protocol is clear, evacuate the Autumn, get us towards that planet! With any luck we can put up a defensive position, or at least get out of here, I want all fighters out there where they can do some good, have them help out the Republic fighters, they seem to be having trouble dealing Seraph fighters."

"All Longsword fighters are required to prevent anymore Covenant intrusion." The roars of the Longswords exiting the Autumn followed soon, and 'Yee-has!' were heard over the intercom. "And boys, show this Republic how it's done!"

As the battle raged on, Keyes and Cortana tried everything they could to stop the Covenant, but their efforts came to no avail, hope seemed to be lost until the light footsteps and the heavy, masculine voice that was the MasterChief.

"Captain Keyes?"

"Good to see you MasterChief, things aren't going well," Keyes gestured to the massacre of a battle outside, "Cortana did her best but, we didn't really have a chance."

Cortana turned from her work to the seven foot tank of a man. "Four Covenant superior battleships against a single Halcyon-class cruiser and two frigates, plus the two already battle hardened ships of the Republic, we could have won if we weren't caught by surprise, Sleep well?"

"No thanks to your driving." Chief turned his head to Keyes, "What do you mean by 'Republic ships'? Where are we?"

Keyes sighed after seeing another part of a Republic cruiser go in flames, "The thing is MasterChief, we have no idea. We stumbled upon these guys that aren't from anywhere near our galaxy, and the Covie's seemed to have followed us all the way out here."

"What do you need me to do sir?" Chief asked while staring at the Republic cruisers, and noticed the similar weaponry they had with the Republic. Keyes quickly went to the Holo-table and downloaded Cortana onto a drive, then gave her to the Chief.

"I need you to get her off this ship and out of the Covenant's grasp, I don't need to go in detail of the consequences, just get her planetside."

"And you sir?"

Looking again to the battle, Keyes saw a piece of hope in the form of his Longsword fighters along the Republic fighters protect escape pods from both the Republic and UNSC ships alike, but it was diminished when a battlecruiser destroyed a Republic cruiser completely, now aiming their efforts at the Autumn. "That planet the Republic is fighting on, I'm going to try and land on it."

"Apologies sir, but this war has enough dead heroes." Cortana disagreed, but Keyes merely shook his head at the troubled AI.

"The heroes are the victors, Cortana, and if we are going to possibly win this war I need you two to get out off this ship!" With that he already began starting a course for the planet. "Chief, just get her to safety, and get out troops out of here."

Keyes then handed his pistol to the Chief, who nodded and quickly ran to the nearest escape pods, destroying a large boarding party of Covenant, and leading dozens of marines along with him. With full control, Keyes activated the emergency thrusters, and descended towards the planet's surface, leaving the Covenant behind.

"Captain! A shuttle from the Republic cruiser is attempting to make contact with us!" The deck officer shouted from the comms relay station.

"Put them through." Keyes waited for the static to clear for an australian-like voice spoke through.

"UNSC vessel? I am Clone Sergeant Appo of the Galactic Republic, requesting permission to land in one of your hanger bays to assist in your evacuation." The 'Clone' seemed to be stressed, and the cause was seen as the shuttle was being chased by a banshee, which was being followed by another shuttle and a Longsword.

"Permission denied, Sergeant Appo, I am Captain Keyes, and this ship is full of Covenant forces." The ship began to shake again, and more reports of the Chief already near the escape pods lifted one of Keyes' many worries.

"Captain Keyes, we won't survive out here! Our ship is going for reinforcements, and we were sent to group up with you."

Keyes shook his head and sighed. "Fine, get yourselves into a hanger, and meet up near the escape routes, I have marines and a spartan near that location now." Keyes wished they hadn't come, but there wasn't much time. He just hoped the Republic could survive, and more importantly, if all of humanity survived.

As soon as the shuttle entered the hangar, the _Resolute_ quickly made a hyperspace jump, fleeing to safety, and leaving the rest at the unheard of mercy of the Covenant.

 **Alright! First part is done, the next will come soon. Trust me it's gonna get better, and it's going to be full of clones, marines, fighters, tanks, MasterChief, and plenty of destruction! Please review my work, it helps a lot. See ya next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Somehow my useless garbage of a computer decided on its own to just screw up my documents, and I am unfortunately unable to fix it for now. So if you have trouble reading, just know it's not suppose to be like this. I promise further chapters should not be like this.**

 **So far I already have positive feedback from the first chapter, also thanks Usernamesarebad for the lovely review, I really love your work, and don't worry, the action gets much more exciting. Alright, here we go for part two. I own nothing, only the OC's of my creation.**

Chapter 2

 _UNSC Pillar of Autumn_

John, also known throughout the UNSC as the MasterChief, ran as quickly as he could with his magnum in hand, being fast yet careful due to the Covenant forces onboard, Chief opened the door out of the deck, only to see a surprised grunt shout in fear. Chief quickly killed the grunt and moved down the hallway.

An elite swung it's hand at the Chief, surprising him. But the Chief quickly pulled the elite's arm over his shoulder and forced it onto the ground, hard, then delivered several strong kicks to the face and neck. When the elite was dead, Chief moved on.

After defeating several groups of Covenant, the MasterChief was now leading a group of a half dozen marines, and a single ODST.

Passing a hangar bay, a marine saw a strange shuttle-looking vehicle enter the hangar, and was about to shout in alarm when the intercom beat him to it. "To all hands currently by hangar bay seven, a damaged Republic shuttle containing a Republic officer, Sergeant Appo, has entered and you are tasked with their protection if we are to establish good relations with these guys, Captain Keyes out."

The MasterChief opened the one hundred pound heavy hangar door with ease, and quickly led four of the marines towards the shuttle, which seemed to be well armed. After a quick glance, it was obvious the pilot was dead, so the Chief continued towards the side door. John placed his rifle on his back, and opened the door of the shuttle, and eleven white armored humans quickly filed out, all of which gave a mix of worry and curious looks towards the towering Spartan, who stood nearly two feet above them.

"Which one of you is Sergeant Appo?" Chief questioned the identical group of white armored soldiers, one of which walked past his comrades and saluted. Chief followed suit, and he gestured them to follow the group. MasterChief quickly took the lead, rifle in hand, who was followed by Appo, who seemed awestruck of the Spartans appearance. "Why did you board our vessel?"

Appo looked up to the spartan, and replied, "Our gunship was damaged by some large, shielded fighter, we weren't going to last long out there, we thought we could survive longer if we made it in here." Chief didn't respond, but simply continued on. "And we were ordered to establish contact with you guys by General Kenobi." The group continued down the heavy corridor for only a minute of calmness without Covenant.

"Who are you exactly?" A clone finally broke the silence, which was followed by a chuckle from a bald marine.

The Chief kept his pace steady, and quickly replied, "Spartan, Sierra 117, MasterChief petty officer of the UNSC."

Before the clone could inquire any further, the Chief raised his left fist, signalling the group to stop in their tracks. After several seconds, the Chief lowered his hand, and marched forward. Suddenly, a door on the other side of the corridor burst open in a cloud of hot plasma, and several grunts rushed forward, followed by a pair of elites. The marines and clones all ducked for cover once volleys of plasma poured from the Covenant's pistols and rifles, which already killed a stunned clone, and the plasma easily burnt through the clone's armor like a warm knife in butter. But the Chief stood his ground, which shocked the clones when several bolts hit the Chief, only to be stopped by his personal shield. After a minute of fighting, all the grunts and a single elite were killed, while the other retreated to warn his comrades. With only one casualty, the group continued on until they reached the escape pods, which were being guarded by several elites. With confidence and muscle memory, four of the clones charged with their blasters firing at the elites, Chief managed to grab one of them, and fired his rifle, knowing full well the mess the clones got themselves into.

But it was too late, instead of going down immediately like the clones thought would happen, the elites had plenty of time to react, killing the three quickly while attacking the rest of the group. A marine fell, and another was injured before the skirmish was over, and the group filed into the pod, Chief stayed behind, covering them from any Covenant preventing their escape. Chief pulled the injured marine aside him and into the pod, which then quickly closed, and the pod jettisoned itself into the atmosphere of the desert planet. Out the pilot's window, the Chief saw the Autumn descend even faster to the planet, and it wasn't long until they landed as well. With a heavy _THUD_ , the pod scraped off a pillar of rock, and landed several kilometers away from what seemed to be a large battle near a giant a canyon. The pod shook as it finally landed, nearly knocking the Chief off his feet in the process. The pod's lighting systems shut off, and for several moments of darkness, the Chief kicked the door open, letting in a heavy wave of light and heat.

Several marines and clones began to cough loudly, but managed to exit the pod, with the exception of the pilot and a marine. It wasn't long until Cortana spoke to the Chief, which was also heard by the group. "Chief, are you alright?"

"Cortana." The Chief replied with her name.

" Chief, multiple Covenant dropships are in your area, I recommend you lead these guys out of here and try to find the other pods." The NAV lit up, showing a UNSC distress beacon from two kilometers away.

"Understood." The Chief turned to Sergeant Appo, who seemed surprised of the female voice coming from Chief's helmet. "Cortana is our ship's AI, now we need to move."

Appo nodded and ordered his troops to hurry along with the Chief. Although they evaded a pair of banshees, they still were forced to deal with a Covenant patrol. Learning from their new experience, the clones fired from a distance while the Chief got in close and dealt with the patrol with relative ease.

Entering a valley, two dropships were circling a large group of marines around a rock formation, before dropping off nearly two dozen troops of grunts, elites, and jackals.

The marines shouted in glee once they saw reinforcements come to their rescue, and were generally surprised at the clone trooper's matching armor. Appo fired several bolts at a pair of jackals, but their large shields practically ricocheted them. Appo threw a thermal detonator behind the jackals, which saw the threat and attempted to dive for cover, but were engulfed in the explosion. A clone next to him wasn't so lucky with the jackals, six purple needles seemed to curve in mid air and stab right into his shoulder, at first he thought he would be okay, but the shards exploded with a mist of plasma and the troopers blood, killing him in a tiny yet painful explosion.

Left and right marines were being overwhelmed, and clones were also joining the dead, until a large _BOOM_ thundered through the cannon, and a dropship was now on fire and falling over the forces it had dropped off, killing the majority of them instantly. The source was another Republic gunship that was firing at the dropships. After the battle was over, around twenty clones, thirty marines and crewmen were accounted for, along with Sergeant Johnson, as the gunship landed, two pelicans also appeared and waited to pick up the marines. The gunship opened up, revealing two clone's waving towards the marines, gesturing them to get in.

The MasterChief scanned the rocky valley, counting up their losses to four marines and a pair of clone troopers. Cortana seemed to do the same, and gave facial diagnostics of the dead marines, and listing them all as KIA. Sergeant Appo finished talking with what appeared to be some Republic officer, approached the Chief, and saluted, "MasterChief, several of our gunships made it out the battle, and a good thing too, this could have easily gone worse."

"What's the status of your military in the area?" Chief asked the Sergeant.

"Most of our forces are engaging Separatists forces a few clicks west of here, while some of the evacuees from the _Resolute_ made it towards your ship's crash site." Appo pointed over a ridge, and the Chief could see the Autumn, which was stranded on a large cliff.

"Good, we should continue regrouping our forces before we meet up with your ground units, with any luck we may be able to hold them back long enough to leave this planet."

"Leave? Reinforcements could take a few days, sir, but we can just as easily hold our own." The clone remained firm about his statement, even though he had no idea what the Covenant could do. "And soon, this Covenant will surrender to the Grand army of the Republic."

"The Covenant don't surrender, they will stop at nothing until all humanity is wiped out altogether. The Covenant doesn't stop, they don't lose, all they do is conquer and destroy." The Chief looked down to the clone.

The pilot from one of the pelicans approached the two, "Sir, a bunch of Covie's attacked the Autumn after she landed, they've got Keyes and several crewmen aboard a battlecruiser near the Autumn."

"We'll need some heavy firepower if we are going to last a minute in there, Appo." The Chief addressed the clone. "If we can destroy the Separatist forces, will you be able to assist us?"

Several clones and marines already entered the gunships and pelicans, ready to move to any location. Appo pulled up his comlink on his wrist, and activated an open channel. "Attention any Republic forces, this is Sergeant Appo, what is the status of the droid army?"

"Appo?" A young male voice spoke over, the sound of battle could be heard by anyone around Appo. "This is General Skywalker, I thought you were in the _Resolute_?"

"General, two new factions are in play, we've met up with a UNSC, there humans that aren't from around here, and the other is the Covenant." Appo paused with a sigh when thoughts of the Covenant slaughter the fighters protecting him. "From what we know, they are on a mission to eradicate humanity itself, and our ships are gone."

"You said you met up with this, UNSC? Are they the ones with that strange looking ship that crashed several clicks away?"

Appo was about to speak when Cortana entered the conversation after hacking into the Republic battlenet and systems, "Mr. Skywalker? I'm Cortana, shipboard AI of the UNSC, our ships were attacked along with yours by several Covenant battlecruisers, and we believe your _Resolute_ escaped, but the Covenant know of you location, I advise that you get out of there and into a safe area."

The comlink ran full of static, and the sounds of laser fire were drowned out by a massive explosion. The same explosion was heard by everyone in the valley, which could be seen by the Republic gunship overhead. Soon, reports began to pop up over the battlenet, "Chief, the Covenant are attacking Skywalker's forces, the droid army is in full retreat into the pillar, the Republic are sitting ducks!"

The group of soldiers immediately ducked for cover when the hiss of banshees barely warned the group until several volleys of plasma destroyed a pelican, but the pair of banshees quickly left as fast as they arrived.

"Patrol craft! Spirits are inbound onto our position!" A marine shouted in shock and fear, after barely escaping a fuel rod to the face.

"They're looking for more survivors, Chief, the Republic can't fight them in the position they are in and we can't do anything to help." Cortana paused to scan the amount of attackers. "We need to get dug in and launch a surprise attack later." Chief nodded, and Johnson shouted for the marines and clones alike to defend the remaining gunship and pelican.

A clone shouted a battle cry as he was first to fire upon the Covenant attackers, and was quickly followed by marines, other clones, and the MasterChief. The battle seemed to be going well, until a Phantom dropship emerged into the valley, as it lowered, horror and fear spread throughout the marines, and shock was clearly shown by clone troopers, even with their helmets no time, MasterChief sprung into action, barely dodging a heavy swing from a hunter. It's bond brother tried it's cannon, but the MasterChief fought plenty of these guys before. Another swing and a miss by a hunter, and Chief was able to get on top of it.

The pair tried to kill him, but the Chief was quick with his work, stuffing a plasma grenade into the hunter's back, then leaping onto the other. The grenade did serious damage, and the Chief did as much damage as he could, clips, shells, and cases flew everywhere. Marines and clones joined the fray, popping the hunter's worms at least one at a time. Slowly but surely, the hunter's were defeated, leaving a huge pile of orange blood and bullets.

With the Covenant forces defeated, the marines and clones darted to their troop carrying vehicles.

"Chief!" Johnson shouted by a pelican, "There's not enough room for all of us, take a hog and some men, find more survivors and we'll send pick up later."

Chief nodded while tearing a jackal apart with his assault rifle, then jogged towards the Warthog, and got into the driver's seat. Sergeant Appo followed him, and sat in the passenger seat as soon as a marine got on the turret. The Pelican was first to take off, then followed by the Republic gunship.

His personnel NAV computer lit up, showing another UNSC signal not far away. "Chief, I'm getting reports of marines engaging some sort of bug-like creatures and several 'robots', I'm positive they are part of this, Separatist, right Sergeant Appo?"

"Yes ma'am, the bugs are native to this planet and build thousands of droids everyday for the Separatists, they're tricky but we can deal with them." Appo replied, taking a second to wipe spots of dirt from his armor. "Especially with the Chief here."

"We're closing in on their position, I'm detecting similar energy readings to the plasma cells in a Wraith…" The sound of battle drew close, and Chief was first to see a blue and grey colored tank firing at the marines, who were hiding behind a mass of rock.

Chief stopped the hog and switched positions with the marine, once Chief was on the turret, the marine drove forward, shouting with glee as he ran over a pair of droids, and easily crushed their fragile bodies.

The tank took notice, and barely missed the Warthog with it's main cannon. Chief fired his turret at the remaining ground forces, and when the Warthog got close to the tank, Chief dumped from the turret and on to the tank. Once on, Chief pulled the door off it's hinges with minimal effort. A droid shouted in surprise, then fired his blaster st the Chief. But each blast either missed or when it did hit Chief, his shields prevented any damage. The droid cried with fear in a high pitch voice. Chief grabbed the droid's head and snapped it, then placing a frag grenade inside, Chief jumped off in time for the tank to explode.

Several Geonosians were startled by the large soldier destroying the tank in a smooth motion, and it gave Chief all the time he needed to pull his magnum, and quickly killed all the remaining Separatists.

"See?" A marine said to his comrades, "I knew we had one of those on board!" The marine reloaded his sniper rifle, a began to examine the dead droids.

"Is that Scorpion operational?" Chief asked the marine, while pointing to the tank that was on the side of a chunk of rock.

"If you could get it off the rock, then yeah." The marine watched the Clone Sergeant shake his head in disbelief as MasterChief was able to push the tank off the rock and back into normal position, a feat Appo thought only a jedi could do with the force. Again and again, the clone was growing extremely impressed by the spartan.

Appo remained in his passenger seat as a marine got in the driving position, and the group was off, led by the powerful tank, with an even more powerful spartan inside. 'For a bunch of slugthrowers,' Appo thought, 'They sure are tough, I'd hate to see a squad of MasterChief's take on the 501st, and even with General Skywalker, we could still lose badly.' Appo's concern over the MasterChief's power was growing, but he reassured himself that they were on the same side, so he wouldn't need to worry.

"There were more pods south of here that were full of troops, we came in a cluster with them but we crashed here in our pelican." The marine shouted from outside the tank.

"More contacts up ahead!" Cortana spoke to the Chief, "I think the Covenant is making some sort of contact with a large group of Separatists a few meters ahead, I recommend that you scout it out and signal our troops to engage once we're spotted."

Chief exited the tank, made sure his weapons were ready, and moved ahead of the group, as soon as the orders were given, the group attempted to stay as quiet and out of sight as possible. Crouching, the Chief had his assault rifle ready, and silently killing a Jackal scout, the Chief moved in a good position that oversaw the meeting. A phantom was floating overhead, and several droids of different classes and a tank seemed to be guarding a cavern entrance. A pair of ghosts were parked near a Covenant communications relay station that was surrounded by a dozen grunts and jackals alike, most of the elites waited near a group of geonosians. Then, a feeble looking droid that walked fast exited the cave with a strange, slightly larger looking geonosian that wore a sort of uniform and carried a short staff.

"That weak clanker is a protocol droid, who's probably trying to interpret each other's languages to one another, and the bug next to it is geonosian leader and high priority target, Archduke Poggle the lesser." Appo whispered to Chief, who would have been surprised if he hadn't already known of Appo's approach, courtesy of his motion tracker.

As Poggle flew past the droid, a golden armored elite with a deactivated energy sword walked up and met the geonosian right between each force's respective side, and seemed to be communicating with the protocol droid.

Scanning the area, Chief noticed between several droid's were four marines with their hands in their heads, but what caught his eye was the figure next to them, a green alien wearing a black robe-like outfit with a headdress, was on her knees.

"That's General Luminara!" Appo said in surprise, pointing to the very alien he was looking at. "I can't believe she got captured."

Chief nudged Appo and pointed to a jackal sniper on a ledge, then to a grunt with a fuel rod cannon. "Take those two out, grunt first, then signal our reinforcements." With that Chief crouched and slowly walked behind several chunks of rock, then disappeared behind a stalactite.

"Chief, if we can free those prisoners before the attack, we can surprise them from different sides and prevent their escape."

The droid's weren't very observant of their surroundings, and were focused on Poggle's conversation, so Chief had no issue when he snuck up and silently crushed a pair of droid's heads together. Unfortunately, the geonosians and Covenant alike saw him, but by the time he could react, the droid's were dead and the marines were now armed with the droid's weapons.

Just as the situation began to turn, Appo revealed himself with several shots from his blaster, killing the grunt and jackal with remarkable speed. The grunt dropped his fuel rod, and the force caused the weapon to explode, killing most of the grunts around him in a sudden surge of green energy.

The geonosians retaliated, firing their weapons at the now free prisoners while flying towards the phantom . Most of them were killed by a tank round that knocked the phantom like a sucker punch to a jackal. The sword elite cloaked himself and disappeared from view, along with Poggle the lesser who managed to safely enter the Phantom and out of harm's way. Before the tank could fire again, the Phantom escaped the battle. Most of the Covenant and geonosians that survived retreated to the caves, most of which were shouting in fear. Luminara, as she was called, was grabbing her waist in pain, and it was clear she was hit by plasma. Chief applied a vial of biofoam, which was able to seal the wound.

"Who are you? Some kind of commando unit, or new clone variant?" Luminara asked the Chief, who shook his head as he reloaded wis rifle.

"I doubt there's a clone out there than take this guy on, I've seen him do some incredible feats." Appo joined the two in conversation. "What happened to you, General?" The marines rushed past the trio, searching the dead bodies and wreckage. The tank covered their entrance, and the warthog drove around, looking for any hostiles still in the area.

"After the padawans were going to infiltrate the factory, these strange aliens attacked our forces in a sudden and swift motion, I was captured by an invisible assailant when they began deploying ground units around the factory." She paused to feel her waist once more, the pain was still obvious but she tried to hide it. "There soldiers had personal shields that the clones had trouble penetrating, but even when they did, we were overwhelmed. And my lightsaber seems to have been taken."

"Any idea how the Seppie's came in contact with the Covenant?" Appo asked.

"So that's what they're called, well as far as I know, these Covenant know a form of basic, so they rely on a protocol droid to translate the geonosian language. When this Covenant saw the geonosians engage us, they allied themselves with them and secured the factory. We can't get very close to them without their patrol craft attacking us."

"Where are your forces? Our men our regrouping for a counter attack, and we would require your assistance if we can attack multiple ships at once." Cortana spoke through Chief's helmet. With that, Luminara smirked when several Republic gunships began to circle the area.

 **Again, I'm sorry about how it looks, but hopefully my computer will stop malfunctioning so I can write.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I own nothing, only the OC's of my creation.**

 **In response to spartan120's review, I'm not sure MasterChief would actually attempt to pursue a relationship, and neither would a jedi. I thank you anyways for reviewing.**

 **Time to see more Covenant and Republic fighting, which is something I really look forward to writing.**

Chapter 3

 _CCS Battlecruiser, Holy Servitude_

 _Orbit of Geonosis_

The CCS Battlecruiser was the most common Covenant cruiser seen during battle, the durable and deadly vessel made soldiers turn into cowards just by the mighty size and power they possessed. These mighty vessels could tear ships apart in a matter of minutes, and destroy millions of humans during their feared and well known glassing operations that left planet after planet covered in molten glass.

Shipmaster Koso 'Radumee was in command of his group of battlecruisers, and using quick decision making, had easily destroyed several human ships, even ones he never laid eyes upon before, in a matter of minutes. His lack of knowledge of the area was not his greatest concern, for he could simply reopen the slipspace portal and go back to the human planet known as, Reach. What was his concern was the new faction of humans he battled, though they were like the primitive humans he normally faced, they had weapons similar to the Covenant, and it angered him that these humans must have copied the work of the Covenant or the gods themselves. It gave him even more reason to be disgusted with humans, and he found great personal pleasure when the infidels, even in their new ships, fled from the battle. Only one of his ships were out of commision, but they were able to start making repairs in the planet's orbit.

His banshee's made several scouting missions and were able to find the human vessel that crashed near, what the reports told him, was a battle involving strange humans and a mysterious faction, all armed with technology they would surely use to challenge the Covenant.

"Shipmaster," An Ultra commander approached and interrupted Koso's thoughts, "Our forces have been deployed and are engaging the humans on the surface, but we have discovered something, strange."

"What is it?" Koso turned from a terminal to the ultra.

"Near the large pillar in the center of the battle, several squads discovered an insect race armed with plasma weaponry, and appear to be attacking the humans as well."

"Excellent!" Koso roared in approval. "And what of the humans that crashed onto the planet?"

"We have multiple dropships moving in on their positions."

With that, Koso nodded with a sangheili's version of a smirk, "Good, I will send you, commander, to find an adequate area to meet with these creatures, and discover why they are fighting the humans."

"It shall be done shipmaster." The ultra commander bowed in respect, then began to leave the room before Koso added, "And of course, we shall bring these creatures, if useful, into the Covenant." As the ultra commander left, Koso returned to his worked overseeing his ships. 'If these creatures know this unknown region well, then they could a valuable new addition to the Covenant.' He thought to himself.

Suddenly after several minutes, a beeping noise from a communications array activated. After a moment, Koso clicked on the communication link, and once it stopped, the voice of the ultra commander from before poured through, "Shipmaster, my forces have discovered a large group of the creatures, including what appears to an officer of some kind. The only problem is that we don't understand his language very well, but some kind of machine speaks in the human's language," The ultra paused for a moment, "and it said it could translate for us."

"Anything else to report?" Koso inquired.

"We captured a strange looking human female wielding a blade of energy similar to our swords, she has been unconscious for some time after we captured her.."

Now Koso's anger increased, thinking that the humans copied more work of the Covenant. But Koso kept calm, and ordered the commander to update him later. After the ultra deactivated the communication, Koso checked the update on the Battlecruisers' state. His ship had sustained only minor damage, which the same could be said for the other vessels other than one Battlecruiser that was now inoperable.

"Have the _Truth and Reconciliation_ go into the planet's lower atmosphere, then prepare our vessels for battle incase any humans attempt to escape." Koso ordered the crew on his deck.

 _ **Geonosis, Anakin Skywalker's POV**_

 _ **One hour earlier**_

"Captain Rex, are the troops ready for the assault?" Anakin asked his clone officer, who was prepping his dual pistols for the upcoming battle ahead.

"Yes sir, the 501st and general Luminara's battalion are waiting for orders as we speak, tanks are preparing to march, and the padawans are almost ready to infiltrate the factory." Rex saluted to Anakin, ready for his next set of orders.

Suddenly, alarms roared inside the basecamp, sensors from droids to terminals activated and came alive. Explosions erupted in the skies above, as dozens of escape pods and Republic transports flew in various areas, followed by a large, unknown ship started descending onto the edge of a canyon. Soon after, a giant purple, bulbous ship followed the 'ugly' vessel, and immediately fired upon the Republic force. Tanks and artillery equipment were hit heavily, only a few survived the salvos of plasma. As Anakin and the clones attempted to fire back, several pronged, purple transports accompanied by small fighter craft.

"Get to cover!" Anakin shouted, drawing his lightsaber in a ready stance against the incoming attackers. The two pronged ships fired heavy plasma cannons as their sides opened, releasing several different looking 'aliens'. The larger ones wearing blue and red armor made quick work of the clones that attempted to engage them in close quarters. Smaller, bird-like creatures carried large energy gauntlets that also gave the clones trouble in killing them. The last were the weakest, sporting several different color variants, each armed with pistols.

Anakin heard a battle cry and turned to see a large alien with four mandibles, wielding a curved lightsaber. Barely reacting in time, Anakin blocked the alien's heavy strike. Anakin pushed the large alien several feet away with a large force push, but as he was about to attack, the alien somehow disappeared after small and maneuverable fighter with a bulbous front started firing upon him. Anakin deflected several smaller bolts but was forced to do a massive lunge once it fired a heavy ball of energy.

The clones were regaining ground, after most of these alien forces were defeated, what was left of the tanks and artillery did their best to try to kill or fend off the enemy fighters.

A sudden beeping sound drew Anakin's attention to his comlink, and a voice fell through, "Attention any Republic forces, this is Sergeant Appo, what is the status of the droid army?"

"Appo?". Anakin was surprised to hear the Sergeant's voice. "This is General Skywalker, I thought you were on the _Resolute_?"

"General, two new factions are in play, we've met up with a UNSC, they're humans that aren't from around here, and the other is the Covenant." Appo paused with a sigh. "From what we know, they are on a mission to eradicate humanity itself, and our ships are gone."

"You said you met up with this, UNSC? Are they the ones with that strange looking ship that crashed several clicks away?" Appo didn't respond, and only static continued. Appo was about to speak when Cortana entered the conversation after hacking into the Republic battlenet and systems, "Mr. Skywalker? I'm Cortana, shipboard AI of the UNSC, our ships were attacked along with yours by several Covenant battlecruisers, and we believe your _Resolute_ escaped, but the Covenant know of your location, I advise that you get out of there and into a safe area." Static arose before Anakin could respond.

Looking across the battle, several different looking dropships that were also bulbous floated near Luminara and her padawan, Barriss, who were fighting fiercely to defend themselves from their new attackers. The two were soon surrounded and heavily outnumbered. Anakin rushed to help, but was caught in shock when he saw Barriss being stabbed in the chest by a large lightsaber-like weapon, then lifted in the air by an invisible assailant, then her lifeless body was tossed away like a rag doll. Luminara cut the cloaked alien in two, whose body was now seeable.

But Luminara's efforts to fight on were crushed by two massive, tank like behemoths with large spikes from their backs, arm cannons, and large shields. Luminara was now a hunted target as more of the blue armored warriors surrounded her.

As Anakin was about to assist, one of the looked at him and fired its massive cannon, sending over a dozen small energy projectiles at him.

Anakin was able to dodge the attack, and as the creature was about to fire again, an AT-TE fired its main cannon at the creature, knocking Luminara and several smaller aliens to the floor. But the creature was still alive, and it's twin joined it in a massive spray of hot plasma, killing the gunner before he could fire again. The giant alien was soon killed by a hail of lasers from the tank, until several enemy fighters cut through the tank, killing its occupants.

A pair of the bird-like creatures carrying large shields fired at Anakin, yapping and slowly approaching the young jedi. Anakin force pushed the pair away, and ran by cover as even more fired at him.

"We need rocket launchers!" Shouted Captain Rex, as he ran towards Anakin with several troopers. "Sir, our forces are getting hit hard and we need to get to a better position!"

"Captain Rex, order our tanks to draw their fire, if we can't beat them back soon we are going to need to leave this area." Anakin sighed, blocking several bolts of hot plasma from an elite.

"Soon sir? I don't think we can, Luminara's been captured, Barriss is dead along with a lot of good men sir, we need to evacuate in the few gunships we have left!" An explosion knocked Rex off his feet after he spoke, but was quick to get back up. More explosions followed, men and equipment were being destroyed. "Ahsoka is already heading for a gunship, waiting for the order sir."

"Rex, we can't give up now-" A sudden barrage of hot plasma cut through three other clones, leaving only Rex and Anakin alive. Dazed with a sharp ringing in his ear that nearly blocked out the noise of the battle, Anakin looked across the battle, clones and Covenant alike were being decimated in the fighting. The remaining tanks were becoming plasma magnets, and only a few remained.

"Get to the gunships!" Anakin yelled to the surviving men, "Fall back!" Deflecting more bolts, Anakin shook his head as he retreated from a new enemy.

Gunships flew in, shaking off blasts of heavy plasma and energy, the tanks did their best to fight off the enemy forces, but simply proved way too much. The clones were used to fighting weaker, mindless enemies, but the Covenant was nothing of the sort. Even jedi could fall to the nearly unstoppable wrath of the Covenant Empire.

After taking heavy losses, the remaining Republic gunships flew at top speeds across kilometers of barren, dusty land, until the sounds of battle drew their attention to a steep and narrow canyon.

 _Coruscant, Chancellor's Office_

Pain, misery, death, and suffering. Feelings in the force that any Sith or user of the dark side would find much glee and excitement, the only exception in these times was Darth Sidious, known to the Republic as their beloved Chancellor Palpatine. Through the force, alone in his cold chambers, Sidious sought the source of the sudden surge of pain and death.

When most Sith would be joyful in feeling the sudden extinguishes of life, this dark lord was more worried about what caused it instead. Sensing over the hundreds and thousands of worlds, the source was soon discovered, the desert planet of Geonosis.

But as he searched through the force, he could 'see' large vessels that he hadn't ever once seen in his lifetime. Not of any design or origin he knew of. As he 'looked' for Skywalker, he could sense harsh hatred for the new arrivals. He could feel and 'see' the many deaths of the clones, and even that of a jedi padawan whose name he didn't care to remember.

All he knew and saw, was that they were slaughtering the Republic forces. A sudden grin came over the dark lord's face. _This can be of great use to my plans._ Alone in his office, Sidious gave a long, and almost maniacal laugh, one that would send chills down most men's spines.


	4. Chapter 4

**Alright, as the drill goes, I don't own Halo or Star Wars. only the OC's of my creation.**

Chapter 4

 _CCS BattleCruiser, Holy Servitude_

 _Dropship Hangar Bay_

 _Orbit of Geonosis_

As the newer phantom Dropship floated smoothly into the bay, several unggoy stood excitedly by their elite comrades for the arrival of their newfound allies. The Geonosians, as they were called by the humans, shared very similar traits with the drones, but were seemingly more intelligent and great at manufacturing weapons of war.

A talent the Covenant was hoping to use greatly in their campaign against humanity.

As the unggoy pondered about them, the kigyar and many Sangheili soldiers were skeptical about their capabilities and the new galaxy itself. Discovering these, _new,_ humans with advanced technology similar to their own had them worried, many of the Covenant officers were anxious and quick to meet and find allies against them.

And so far, their efforts bore fruit. The Geonosian military leader and several others of it's kind were now exiting the phantom's side door. As Poggle fluttered his wings, he and the others flew past several of the smaller unggoy, but stopped at the presence of the vessel's shipmaster. Koso 'Radumee stood over Poggle by nearly two feet, as a good sized Sangheili, he had always used his intimidating height and stance to keep other species of the Covenant in line.

"Poggle the lesser I presume." Koso started, in english, and bowed to the Geonosian, then handed him a purple disk. "Our vessel's AI and engineer have deciphered your language, this speech enhancement disk will help you communicate better."

Poggle grabbed the disk, figured out how to operate it quickly, and replied, "Thank you, Shipmaster Koso of the Covenant. I am glad to meet you in person."

"As am I, now for the purpose of the meeting, I apologize for the distraction on the planet, the infidel humans cannot bother us any longer here. When my forces engaged the vermin, they encountered your forces attacking them aswell, so I ask, why?"

Poggle went into mass detail of the first battle of Geonosis, and the start of the Clone Wars, the Republic, and CIS factions. "We didn't know how long we could hold out against the Republic dogs, at least until your impressive fleet and ground forces arrived."

"You flatter me, and I assure you, the Covenant actually win their battles, unlike your CIS allies, who seemed to have abandoned you." Koso gestured Poggle to a holotable, which showed off the different droid models in a fast fashion, from simple B1's to the more powerful Droidekas. "These machines you are tasked to create seem mostly weak and less effective in battle than the kind of forces we know of."

"These droids are designed to overwhelm enemies and for mass production, which is why we think they are better for combat than sending living beings to fight."

"Yes, but if you stopped production of these models," The images of B1's, B2's, and the DSD1 Dwarf spider droid flashed, "and many of the tank variants, we could focus on building stronger, more capable Covenant vehicles."

"We are thankful for your help, but we work with the CIS."

"The CIS have weak vessels and soldiers, which can't seem to be able to recapture the planet if it was still under Republic control, while our Covenant take pride and always fiercely protect our member's planets." He continued as he pressed a few buttons on his holotable. "If your species can join the Covenant ranks in our campaign against the human filth, I personally promise your people will never have to worry about Republic attacks or waiting for help. You have the opportunity to help the Covenant to end the heretics across the galaxy, but if your species is not capable-"

"I've heard enough, I don't want words, I need action. Our great queen is near the human attackers, and we can't get to her, if your forces can secure her, my people may consider allying themselves with you."

Koso nodded in response to Poggle's interruption, and left to head to his personal chambers.

 **UNSC/Republic Rally Point,** _ **UNSC Pillar Of Autumn**_

As nightfall finally descended onto the planet, the UNSC and Republic were at constant hard work to gather all the intel, supplies, and forces they could find to help them combat the Covenant. Thankfully, the UNSC had managed to salvage several drones that would make the Covenant think they were at different locations, and not the Autumn. The drones would relay false broadcasts that they knew the Covenant would intercept and follow the drone to where they thought the humans were. Without Captain Keyes and several other officers, the command of the remaining UNSC forces fell on Cortana and Sergeant Major Johnson. The MasterChief was also looked up to by the marines and usually followed his orders in battle. With the Republic, Jedi knights Luminara and Anakin pls his padawan Ahsoka were in charge of their respective forces. While they made plans for surprise attacks, the soldiers of both groups started 'socializing' and many were also gearing up for more combat near the armory.

"Ah Kriff man, how could one guy who's not a Jedi kill that many Covie's with a couple of slugthrowers?" Asked Captain Rex as he heard a pair of marine's talk about the MasterChief in battle.

"Listen amigo, the Chief was tearing up tanks and Covie's with a chorro of bullets and was unstoppable! I saw him take enough hits to level a frigate and keep going like it was nothing!" Several clones laughed and chuckled at the marine's comments. "Don't be a couple of douches boys, just wait 'til you see him in action."

"What do you think Appo?" A clone trooper nudged the Sergeant to join his conversation. "Who would win, this Spartan guy or an ARC trooper?"

"The Chief for sure, even as a clone trooper and seeing an ARC in combat, I can't deny the capabilities the MasterChief has. He's incredibly strong, resilient to all kinds of damage and has his personal shields that can easily take several hits from our blasters."

"You kriffing serious brother?" He asked, almost baffled by the response. "Well, let's ask him ourselves!" The trooper pointed at the Spartan as he walked past them, went to examine a rack of weapons, then placed an assault rifle on his back and a pistol on his hip. Appo shook his head. A female marine also entered the room and grabbed herself a shotgun while looking at a tablet.

A sudden whistle from a swedish marine broke the silence, and was followed by several laughs from other soldiers in the room. "Whatcha got there mama?"

"Name isn't mama, it's Allison." She shook her head as she began to walk past the soldiers.

"Well I could know that and more if we say, get together and have dinner?" The young, blonde marine came closer to her.

"Screw off." She shoved past the man, and walked out the armory.

Another, older marine named Ace slapped his hand across the young soldier's head, and chuckled along with the other marines and a few clones. "What did I tell you about messing with Corporal Church? Trying to screw with her is like shaking your arse at an enraged pitbull!"

"How was I supposed to know she had a kid? What's her deal?"

"She hasn't seen either her husband or her daughter in years man."

"Wait you guys have female soldiers?" Rex asked Ace, who looked back at him as if he was on something.

"Well yeah, this late in the war, we need every soldier we can get man." He pulled out a pair of dog tags from his belt pocket, and just looked at Rex with an almost cold stare. "You never seen any female soldiers have ya?"

Rex shook his head, "Other than a jedi, no."

"Oh yeah, since you guys are a bunch of clones right?" Ace put the dog tags back into his pack. "How's that life like? I don't mean to intrude on anything personal, just curious."

"Yeah, it's kind of nice to see different kinds of faces and personalities other than the slight differences in clone facial features." Rex turned to his brothers surrounding a marine and a clone in an arm wrestle match. "There isn't much we know other than war, I'm not sure how life would be like if the war would end by now."

"Trust me Rex, we've been at war with the Covenant for about as long as you've been alive, and I doubt it's ending anytime soon." Ace sighed.

 **Meanwhile, Autumn Command Deck**

In the deck stood Jedi Generals Anakin and Luminara, Sergeant Major Johnson, several various deck officers, and Cortana. She and the deck officers were hard at work rebooting systems and defense turrets in case of a surprise attack, while the jedi were discussing counterattack plan with Johnson.

"Listen boy, you're like twenty something with little military experience, especially with the Covenant buggers I've been fighting since day one of this war." Johnson said to the young jedi Anakin Skywalker, then returned his cigar to his mouth. "It only makes sense if I take command over your men, that way someone with experience can lead our troops into a victory!"

"Now hold on," Anakin argued, and coughed as Johnson let out a puff of smoke from his mouth, "I've lead my men in dozens of victories!"

"Against those weak robot things, not Covenant, you don't know how they work, especially their ships. When we board the _Truth and Reconciliation_ , your men won't know squat, I on the other hand do."

The disagreement continued on for several minutes over all the plans for the counter attacks, Anakin tried to take charge over battle strategy, but due to his age and experience level, Johnson disagreed and thought it best if he took command of all the troops.

"I think it best if we simply divide our forces as we need to for maximum efficiency," Luminara joined the conversation. "Johnson's marines and the MasterChief can assault the cruiser and rescue their ship's captain while Anakin and I will attack a Covenant battalion several clicks from the main factory."

"Lady, in order for you to do that you'll need the few tanks we have left, but my boys would like some extra help when distracting other Covenant forces in the area away from the cruiser." Johnson puffed more smoke from his cigar.

"Then we mix our forces so that we can do our best with what we got." Luminara replied.

"I can give you about four of our last scorpion tanks and a wolverine in case of banshee patrols, if you give me lets say nearly a dozen of your flame troopers, those will really help in clearing out corridors, and a few of your special units."

"I have a pair of ARC troopers that survived the initial attack, other than that there isn't much else we can help you with-" Luminara was interrupted by a certain padawan tortuga.

"Master I would like to go!" Ahsoka nearly yelled as she overheard the conversation and decided to join in. Johnson nearly dropped his cigar at the sight of both her outfit and her age. "I'd like to settle a score for Barriss.

"You're joking right? Why would a little girl even be near a battlefield?" Johnson shook his head.

"Johnson, this is my padawan Ahsoka, and just because she is young doesn't mean she isn't skilled in combat." Anakin gave him a tern look, trying to assure the Sergeant.

"Fine, but if she dies then that's on her." Johnson turned from the jedi and walked towards a deck officer, and went to discuss about the ship's functional capabilities.

"Geez, calm down tough guy, I can take care of myself."

"Listen little girl, I've seen enough death and horrors in my life that would scar anyone for life, as a child, you couldn't handle half the things I've been through!" Johnson spat his cigar on the ground and left the deck. "Contact me when we are all prepped for combat."

Anakin pulled Ahsoka by her arm towards him and Luminara, "What did I tell you about ticking him off? I sense a lot of anger in that man."

"Which is one of the only things we can." Ahsoka muttered, thinking about the UNSC and Covenant's lack of presence in the force.

"It almost makes me think they're not alive," Luninara sighed, trying again to feel into the force for any of the UNSC member's presences, but still felt nothing.

 **Two Standard Hours Later**

The nights of Geonosis was the only known period of time the planet's air was cool, and gave the platoon of UNSC and Republic troops the dark cover needed along with the rocky areas that surrounded the _Truth And Reconciliation_ 's main gravity lift that could unload troops and supplies onto the ground or vice versa.

The two pelicans quickly unloaded the platoon off by the edge of the valley-like area, giving them plenty of cover as they watched for scouts. But even the thought of the element of surprise didn't stop a certain corporal from playing some older, centuries old rock music.

"Hey corporal! Why do we always have to listen to this stuff before we drop into combat?" Ace asked loudly so the other marines and clone troopers could hear him.

"This 'stuff' is our history!" Allison replied as she waved her tablet that was playing the music in the air, then placed back in her pack. "This is what we are fighting for, our history is vital for our future as a race!"

"I don't know amigo, I wouldn't mind the Covie's annihilating that part of our history. Do you even think our Republic friends here even like this kind of music?" Sanchez said as the pelicans had parked in the right spot.

An ARC trooper called Red, which went along with the color of his armor, looked at Ace, then at Sanchez and Allison, and said, "It definitely isn't cantina band but I like it, almost makes me feel like I need to fight something."

The platoon consisted of twenty marines, ten flame troopers, the two ARC troopers, Ahsoka, and the MasterChief. As they split in half, the two ARC's and a pair of marines scouted the area around the gravity lift, and were quick to report in.

"Commander Tano, Chief, we've got several turrets that can tear our men to shreds if we can't take them out quickly, there are about ten grunts, a couple jackals, and a half a dozen elites. Plus a few geonosians and clankers guarding it aswell." The ARC quickly spoke.

"The MasterChief will draw their fire so the rest of the men can pick their targets and surprise them with a swift assault." Cortana spoke over the communications devices, as she was virtually connected to them all after easily hacking into it before.

Chief nodded, and signaled the marines to disperse around the area. Chief rolled behind a pillar, then quickly avoided a pair of B1 battle droids that were patrolling and swiftly dismantled them and hid them from view. Chief continued on past the first gun placement, and killed its grunt occupant before anything else could see him.

A sudden, loud 'Wort Wort Wort' filled the silence of the area, and the Chief turned to see an elite yelling at something so his comrades would notice as well, then Chief found the source, Ahsoka had gone too far from her cover too early.

Spotted, she ignited her lightsaber and deflected several bursts of plasma fire from the elite and a pair of grunts. Droids and Geonosians quickly joined the fight as the marines attacked with the help of the two ARC troopers.

"Ahsoka!" Cortana shouted through the comm as MasterChief killed a trio of droids, "The hell were you thinking?"

Ahsoka barely had time to assess her question, as she force pushed a suicide grunt pack into another grunt, killing them both. "I thought I had a chance! Most guys I've fought were never too observant!"

"Maybe not droids kid, but the elites and jackals are different stories, both of which are always on guard and can aim well." As she spoke, a jackal armed with a needle rifle shot an unsuspecting ARC trooper in the shoulder, nearly killing him as it cut right through his shoulder armor. Soon after, a marine was killed by a beam rifle to the neck, spilling out large amounts of blood and quickly ending his life in seconds.

The MasterChief was quick and precise, killing the remaining Geonosians, grunts, and most of the droids swiftly and without any faulty aim from his pistol. He switched to his assault rifle and fired upon a droideka, getting its attention on him and off the others. Taking a mere two bolts that nearly depleted his shields, he rolled under the barrage and behind the cover of some large rocks.

The Chief grunted as more blasts nearly killed him before his shields could recharge, but once they did, he got into action quickly and fired an overloaded shot of a newly acquired plasma pistol, which depleted it's shields, then Chief quickly jumped off the rock and onto the confused droid, smashing its head like a soda can.

"These 'droids' aren't very effective in close range combat, reminds me of killing grunts when they start panicking." As he said that a battle droid shouted in fear and made a high pitch scream as his head was torn apart by Corporal Allison's shotgun.

"Makes me wish we were fighting these guys instead of the Covenant." She fired her shotgun at an elite, heavily damaging his shields before Red killed it with his dual blaster pistols. Soon the fighting finished with only a few casualties and the flame troopers were prepared to lead the boarding. As the first group consisting of the MasterChief and several flame troopers stood on the large platform, they were almost immediately sucked into the ship's loading bay from the gravity lift.

The second group with the rest of the troops and Ahsoka followed suit and they floated up. As the two groups reunited, some of the marines were nervous about the lack of guards onboard.

"I've got a decent lock on the Captain's CNI transponder several corridors away. No defenses detected nearby." Cortana spoke through the Chief's helmet as she searched the ship while accessing anything she could onboard.

"What? No Covenant here?" Ace asked loudly, confused about the lack of Covenant forces that would usually be all over them by now.

"Looks like nobody's home." Allison checked behind several crates, making sure there was nothing that was going to jump them. "Cortana, we're going to need to get these doors open right away."

"I've got a really bad feeling about this." Red kept his blaster pistols ready incase of anything. "This just doesn't make sense to me, normally a bunch of droids would be attacking us blindly if we got inside one of their ships, guess these guys work differently."

Suddenly, one of the doors opened, and three cloaked spec ops elites came through, followed by a group of noisy grunts. Using the grunts as a distraction, the elites moved stealthily to the side, and quickly killed two flame troopers before they were spotted by Chief and Ahsoka. The marines and clones dealt with the grunts with relative ease but the spec ops elites proved to be more difficult than the clones thought.

One elite with an energy sword charged at Ahsoka, who barely had any reaction time to block his sword strike. The elite roared and swung again, bringing his blade right on top of her. She managed to use the force and pull herself from him and regain a fighting stance. She swung at his side but he blocked it and tried to grab her, only to be stopped as she pushed him back with the force. With fast reflexes she dove past his incoming swing, rolled past him and cut at his back from behind, killing him.

Ahsoka didn't enjoy the idea of her having to kill them much, even though they wanted to kill her like there was no tomorrow. But she continued on anyway, hoping to bring justice to Barriss and the many people the Covenant slaughtered.

"Flame troopers in the front!" Cortana ordered the troops. "I want every corridor cleared of any Covie's so we can find Keyes. Corporal Church, take some men and find an air bay incase so we can bring in more troops if necessary."

"I'll go with!" Ahsoka volunteered, and the Chief nodded in response.

"We'll rendezvous with you later, when we find the captain." The Chief turned and followed a lead flame trooper, and the rest followed suit. Most of the marines left with Allison, but most of the clones left with Chief. "Red will go with me and a squad of flame troopers and a couple marines, the others will follow you."

The same kind of routine recurred in an almost pattern like way: Flame troopers fire into a room, then the Chief and others would move in and kill the rest. Most of the time, the tactic was successful, but for every few corridors, a few men would be killed by either an angry elite or a suicidal grunt.

"The brig should be right past this last door, Chief, I'm detecting several beings inside, lets hope the captain is one of them." Said Cortana.

"Copy that, moving in for extraction." Chief waited for the door to open and rushed inside, assualt rifle in hand, and quickly killed a surprised jackal.

Four B2 battle droids turned to the attacking spartan and fired their wrist balsters as they walked towards him. He took several hits from them before his shields went down, but by then the droids were destroyed by the flame troopers that rushed in along with him.

Chief stood by a console and pressed his hand on a holographic switch that deactivated the cell barriers, and released captain Keyes and several deck officers from them.

"Coming here was reckless, you know better than this," Keyes said as he got up, "thanks." He walked out to see the clones and marines waiting for their next move. "Looks like the Republic are pulling themselves together to help us, eh?"

"Both of our enemies seem to be working with each other, at least for now, and we all got scores to settle against the Covenant." Red handed one of his pistols to Keyes, who quickly figured out how to use it.

"Good," Keyes walked to the center of the group with a military posture, "while the Covenant had us locked up in here I overheard some grunts complain about have to secure a Geonosian queen to help with their new alliance."

"The bugs have a queen?" Red looked back to the other troops next to him. "I thought that was a rumor."

"Now this makes sense," Cortana said through Chief's helmet, "the Covenant sent nearly a battalion of troops and tanks to what scouts said looked like the head of a sort of temple. That must be where the queen is."

"Then let's get there and end her reign, it might cause chaos for the Geonosians that can give us a small advantage." Keyes started walking towards the door. "Chief, take the lead, let's get out of this mess."

 **Alright! Chapter four is done, and now the UNSC and the Republic discovered the Geonosian queen, but can they end her rule? Will the Geonosians side with the Covenant for good or will they stay loyal to the Separatists? Find out that and more next time.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I own nothing other than my OC's. If anything feels strange or you feel like you need to tell me something, go on ahead and leave a review!**

Chapter 5

 **CCS Battlecruiser,** _ **Truth and Reconciliation**_

Ace could only swear as yet another hunter followed its bond brother out a corridor. Knocking several crates towards the group, it nearly hit Ace as he dove to the ground. The others followed his lead as they dashed for cover from the new barrage of plasma fire. " _And I thought this would be safer than getting Keyes",_ Ace thought to himself as he fired bursts from his assault rifle at the walking tanks. More grunts fired at the group from a distance as they attempted not to get smashed by the hunter pair.

Ahsoka blocked several bolts and used the force to throw a crate at them. As soon as she did, she quickly jumped backwards as a hunter nearly crushed her with it's giant shield. She lunged on top of the hunter's shoulder and used her lightsaber to cut across it's back, but it's dead worms were quickly replaced by the rest of its colony.

"How do you beat this things?" She shouted. "Even a strike from my lightsaber didn't kill it!"

Ace and Allison fired several bursts at the hunter, drawing its attention from the young padawan. "Keep going at it's back, it only has so many worms to keep itself together." Ace said as he and Allison quickly ran from the hunter.

Meanwhile, Red and the other marines were also having trouble with a hunter, and Red's lack of experience wasn't helping.

A marine threw a grenade behind the hunter, damaging it's back. Red quickly got the idea to get behind the hunter as marines fired their rifles at it. He managed to do so, and he tossed a thermal detonator at it. He had to take several steps back as it incinerated most of the worms that remained. The hunter shook its body and attempted to attack again, only to be finally killed by several more blasts and bursts of rifle fire.

Ahsoka lashed at the other hunter's back again, finally killing it and clearing the hanger of Covenant forces. Blood and worm pieces fell across the floor, nearly making Ahsoka vomit as she walked past the dead behemoth.

"Good work boys," Red kicked the side of a hunter, making sure it was dead, "Kriff, I would hate to fight these on a regular basis."

The group quickly spread out, checking for any remaining Covenant and stood by a pair of Phantom dropships and waited for Captain Keyes and the rest to make their way towards them.

"Cortana, this is Corporal Allison, do you read?" Allison checked her helmet's comm for a response.

"We read you Allison, Captain Keyes is secured and we are on our way." Cortana replied.

"Roger, we'll hold position until you arrive."

Ace reloaded his rifle with a fresh clip of ammunition, then approached Red, saying, "So Red, if you would compare the Covie's to your Separatists you normally fight, which do you think is harder to fight?"

"In all honesty, I'm not used to this kind of fighting, droids would try to overwhelm us with superior numbers while these guys rely on superior troop types. On ground, I haven't seen too many Covenant vehicles other than a tank variant and some of their fighters, so I would have to give it to the Seppies. In space, we normally fight smaller, and much weaker, Separatists cruisers which are poor in one on one fighting, but the Covenant cruisers are tough, at least from what I've seen in footage recorded of battles with them, but I'm not sure."

"Oh you haven't seen much of the Covenant yet, I've seen these massive walkers they got, we call them scarabs, and they can tear up huge amounts of armor and take a enough beating to look almost invulnerable when they are on the ground."

"That sounds kriffing hard to deal with."

"Hell yeah it is." Ace scratched the back of his neck, then walked towards a dead grunt. "When you guys were attacked, how well did you do against the weaker species, grunts and jackals? And what about elites, did you kill any of the split-chins?

"Grunts didn't aim very well, but I figured they were mostly cannon fodder for the others, except there was this one that had some kind of energy launcher, that thing looked so confident when it killed a couple of my brothers, that it cried in terror when it was killed in one shot."

"Those little freaks are braver than some would think, I've seen one go all kamikazi with a pair of grenades, and jumped inside a pelican full of civilians. The poor people didn't have a chance."

Red nodded, and continued, "Jackals were a bit harder to fight at first, the ones with the rifles had decent aim, I saw one tear through a trooper's visor with a purple rifle that fired these pink shards. The elites,we didn't have much experience dealing with soldiers that each carried personal shielding. I fired my pistol like five times before I could bring it down, most of our boys weren't lucky." He sighed before he asked what he assumed was a personal question, "How many of your people were killed in this war?"

"By now who knows, billions probably, this war's been going on for like thirty years. With no end in sight, I hate the genocidal freaks, God knows every marine wants to put a bullet into every last one of them, but honestly, I have trouble thinking we can win, except when the Spartans came." Ace sat on a crate and didn't continue to speak, only sat and waited. Red sat next to him, checking his blaster pistols to pass the time.

Soon however, one of the doors swooshed open, with the Master Chief leading what remained of the group of marines and clones.

Allison approached Captain Keyes and saluted, "Good to see you alive, sir."

Keyes saluted back, "At ease soldier, we need to move now, we got a bug to kill." The group quickly filed into the pair of dropships, then flew from the _Truth and Reconciliation_.

 **UNSC/Republic Joint Assault Force**

The soaring heat of Geonosis was known to be harsh to the unprepared, but soldiers of the UNSC and the Republic were not the kind to be 'unprepared'. With years and years of fighting, both factions prepare for any kind of problem, even with hopeless odds.

One hundred clone troopers, sixty marines, four scorpion tanks, a wolverine, four AT-RT's, and the two jedi waited under what little shade and cover they could find.

As they scanned and scouted the Covenant battalion nearby, they quickly realized that there was also a large mass of Geonosians that seemed to be 'defensive' around the cavern-like temple.

"Captain Rex, Sergeant Johnson, is everything ready for the attack?" Anakin asked as he walked towards the two over a transportable holomap.

"Don't worry sonny, our tanks are fueled up and ready to lead the charge," Johnson pointed to a highlighted section of the holomap. "followed by our infantry through these caves here," he shifted his finger over a ridge, "and we should be able to choke them into the opening for our wolverine and tanks to them up."

"And our walkers will join in here," Rex pointed to where the tanks would leave, "following the tanks. Johnson and Sergeant Appo will lead our men in the caves while you and I will lead our armor."

"Then our pelicans and gunships will attack right through the middle, hopefully we can cut their troops in half and send them straight into the lines of sight for our infantry to mow them down."

"Good, we shall start the attack immediately."

Anakin rubbed under his eyes, which grew baggy due to lack of sleep. In truth, he hasn't slept well since before the invasion started, which was days ago. As he watched several squads of troops march into the caves, he hoped for the best of luck for them, since he started to feel strains in the force ever since the UNSC and the Covenant arrived. He shook off the feelings and mentally prepared for the upcoming fight.

Johnson stood staring at the holomap, especially at the part that showed a mass of the enemy troops they were going to fight, after several observations and scout reports, he managed to get a good idea about how many Covenant and Geonosian troops were guarding the area. Nearly two hundred Geonosians, twenty elites, forty jackals, and around sixty to seventy grunts. Plus a pair of wraiths, a couple Separatist tanks, and a few ghosts, and a revenant.

Grabbing his shotgun, Johnson ran down to where most of the marines and clones were waiting by several cave entrances.

"Sergeant Appo, what news do our scouts have?" Johnson asked the clone sergeant

"Hello Sergeant Johnson, I've been talking to the scouts that made it back and they didn't find any Covenant or Geonosian forces. Some scouts haven't made it back yet, I hope they're not lost." He replied as he removed his helmet. "Or dead."

"Well, we're going to have to take what we can get." Johnson waved his hand in the air, signaling the troops to come towards him. "Alright boys, we have to get moving now before the Covie's or the bugs find us before we attack!"

The soldiers of both the UNSC and the Republic filed into groups, the largest group going through a steeper tunnel while the rest went through a more narrow path.

Johnson and Appo quickly led the large amounts of clones and marines by squads. As the caves grew dark and cooler, the mainres activated their gun's flashlights and the clones did the same with their helmets. Johnson had his shotgun pointed forward, always ready for any opposition. The other troops followed his lead and also had their weapons ready. The sound of wings fluttering drew their direction of aim towards a small hole on their left. After several seconds they moved on and continued on until a sudden screech filled the cave, and a grunt with a pair of plasma grenades charged towards the group, but was quickly killed by Appo's blaster.

Soon, several more grunts and Geonosians attacked them from several different directions. Geonosians flew out of holes in the walls and started grabbing multiple marines and clones. One tried to grab Johnson, but he was able to get loose and fire his shotgun in it's face, blood splattering onto his face. Johnson quickly wiped it off and fired at another Geonosian.

"Let's get going out of here, we don't have time for this!" Johnson yelled as he started to charge forward and hit a grunt with the butt of his shotgun.

Several marines and clones yelled and charged right behind him, then followed by the rest of the men. They quickly ran past what remained of any enemy forces, but were killed off by the grenades the troops left behind. As the light hit them like a heavy beam, they soon reunited with their comrades and were just in time to witness the pelicans and gunships attack the Covenant troops that were outside the cavern entrance, rockets and high caliber bullets cut through their infantry and some of their vehicles in an instant. But due to the Covenant fuel rod cannons firing back, they left quickly.

As several wraiths and tanks were backing away, it gave Johnson and the troops the opportunity to strike. Rockets flew from both marines and clones alike.

"Your rockets fire two shots in a single set?" Appo asked as he saw a marine fire two shots at an unexpecting wraith. "Caraya's soul, for a couple of slugthrowers from unknown space, you guys have some impressive stuff."

Soon the wraiths were destroyed with only a few casualties when a wraith was able to fire it's mortar and killed a pair of clones. The grunts and elites saw the incoming infantry and quickly hopped into their Ghosts and attacked the infantry.

But as they started, they were suddenly assaulted by the four AT-RT's, led by Captain Rex as they ran at their top speeds to intercept the Ghosts. The scorpions charged through the remaining armor and killed several of the remaining elites and jackals. Anakin and Luminara joined the fight, running and slashing around at fast speeds.

As they cornered the cavern and the Covenant forces were soon defeated, multiple dropships circled the area, firing at the human forces and one of them lowered by the now clear cavern entrance, it's gravity lift activating. Multiple hunters were dropped off from the dropships, the walking tanks blasting large green balls of plasma at the tanks and killed two of the AT-RT drivers and several marines and clones. As Captain Rex avoided the same death as his comrades, avoiding a ball of plasma from a wraith, he quickly found his AT-RT malfunctioning.

"What the kriff?" He shouted as his walker just seemed to stop for several seconds until it started up again. The problem came back again, but he found the source, somehow a grunt fired an overcharged pistol that hit his walker, and 'freezing' it with a wave of plasma. Vulnerable, Rex witnessed an elite see his opportunity for an easy kill.

As the elite charged forward with his plasma rifle, a pair of jackals followed suit and began to overwhelm Rex. But before he could fire back, the familiar sound of a lightsaber activating gave him a bit of relief as he watched his general, Anakin Skywalker, cut his lightsaber through the unsuspecting elite.

"Well Rex, having trouble with your walker there? Good thing I'm here to keep you safe." Anakin joked. As he regained control, Rex quickly fired at and trampled the two stunned jackals.

Soon, several Geonosians and elites charged from the entrance, gunning down the exposed infantry and cleared the way for a certain queen.

Poggle the lesser stood inside the phantom and smiled as the Geonosian queen, with her now re-exposed wings, flew into the phantom, followed by several other Geonosians and a pair of elites. The phantom flew away from the fight as soon as it could and barely evaded a tank round and soared through the sky. The other dropships simply continued to circle and give their hunters cover from anyone behind them.

Anakin led a charge towards a pair of hunters, one tried to crush him with its shield arm, but Anakin was able to dodge it. Using the force, Anakin leaped high above the hunter and landed behind it, cutting at it's head. The attack failed, which greatly surprised Anakin as he had to jump back to avoid another attack from the hunter. Soon, the tanks finished them off, and the dropships began to leave.

But strangely, two more phantom dropships flew towards the others, and began to fire upon them. The leading phantom flew higher than the others while firing, and it's doors opened, revealing the MasterChief and Ahsoka as they jumped onto another Covenant dropship.

Chief used his knife and stabbed into the other phantom's armor, and was able to get on top of it. Ahsoka did the same with her lightsaber and a lot of use of the force. She stabbed into the phantom, and swiftly cut open a sizable opening. Chief dropped in first, and immediately found himself surrounded by elites and grunts. One grunt tried to jump on him, but he instead used the incoming grunt to his advantage, grabbing by it's neck and turning to the side, he flung the grunt into an elite. Ahsoka jumped in as he did so, and everyone inside found themselves cramped in a tight space. An elite grabbed Ahsoka by the arm, and a pair of grunts tried to tackle her, but she kicked one away with her foot and stabbed the elite with her lightsaber. The other grunt managed to grab her, and soon more elites grabbed a hold of the two. Chief kicked one into it's brothers and pulled another grunt away. Receiving a heavy punch from a large elite, Chief fell back into the wall like a fighter in the corner of a boxing ring. Ahsoka was also punched hard in the stomach before she could fight off another elite. She called upon the force and used a hard force push, knocking away several of the remaining grunts. Chief pulled his pistol out and fired several times at an elite, depleting the elite's shields and killing it.

"These guys sure are tough," Ahsoka took a deep breath as she looked over the unconscious Covenant forces. "But not enough for a Jedi it looks like." She smirked as the MasterChief reloaded his pistol, and walked towards the phantom's cockpit.

"They nearly killed you, I saved you twice from a grunt that had a charge plasma pistol, had I not kicked it away, and if I didn't grab that elite that had a energy knife," Chief kicked through the door and killed the pilot with his knife, cutting through it's neck, "you would have been killed. Now let's get out of here before we crash."

She sighed as she looked at the dead grunt that nearly killed her, then tuned to see Chief jump out as the phantom was close to crashing, and she followed suit. The Chief dove and rolled on the ground, kicking up dust and sand. Then he found Ahsoka as she landed next to him, and the phantom crashing several meters behind them.

"It looks like we won this fight." Anakin approached the two as he brushed of some dirt. "Good to see you alive and well snips."

"Won?" Johnson yelled as he walked toward them, shaking his head. "Those bugs just secured a high priority target and we had a chance to kill it! Now the Covie's know we are here, we're going to have to fall back out of here before they find us and kill us!"

"Well Ahsoka and this Spartan guy managed to save your ship's captain." Anakin argued. "And if we keep at this enough, our reinforcements will arrive and we can settle this matter."

"You talk as if this is all they have. They have fleets in the hundreds, probably thousands for all we know!"

"Well so do we, and millions of troopers to handle them."

"And they have millions of soldiers as well! And guys that stomp your clone soldiers easily, like hunters, brutes, and elites. They have shields and tough armor that that are pretty resistant against most weapons, they would tear even your Jedi apart!"

Anakin was about to continue until the MasterChief stepped in between, saying, "Sergeant, we don't have time for petty squabbling, just get to the pelican and we can leave." Johnson didn't respond, only turned and walked away, spitting on the ground as he went.

"He's lost a lot." Cortana spoke through Chief's helmet.

"What?" Anakin almost forgot about Cortana.

"He's angry because we all lost a lot in this war, friends, family, and entire planets. He's right though, you think of your Republic as this high and mighty force of unstoppable power, you fight weak and mindless enemies that make you look good, but the Covenant are different. They won't even stop if the odds were heavily against them, they have a religious _need_ to completely annihilate humanity itself, and that includes you guys too. Now that they've discovered you, they will keep coming, surround you and try to choke out your very existence."

After that, Chief walked away, leaving Anakin even more frustrated than he was before. He liked having help from people with experience against this new enemy, the Covenant, but he didn't _like_ them. As he walked towards a waiting gunship, he had trouble shaking off his feelings in the force, even though they lacked any presence in the force, he still felt bad when he was forced to kill them. They were still living beings, force or not. But he was so use to fighting mindless droids that he felt terrible when taking lives, it reminded him of when he slaughtered the tusken raiders that caused his mother to die. He hated the memory, but it kept reappearing in his head and wouldn't leave. Johnson wasn't much help either, but years of training helped him stay as calm as he could, and just waiting as he let the humming of the gunships keep him focused off his thoughts.

 **I'm glad to see I have good and very positive feedback, and I'm happy to know that many people enjoy my story.**

 **Don't worry, next chapter will come soon! Along with some very important events.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I own nothing other than the OC's of my creation.**

Chapter 6

The vast cave systems and canyons of Geonosis are well known to be large and dangerous to anyone not of the world. Across this world, battles were waged and lives were lost, most of which came during the Republic's second invasion of Geonosis and when the Covenant came.

After the initial fighting, one Charon-class frigate of the UNSC, the _Divider_ , touched down past a steep mountain range of rock and sand. The frigate carried a large number of marines that escaped into it when Reach was evacuated, and it contained many of Reach's experimental equipment and weaponry that the survivors of the _Pillar of Autumn_ and their Republic allies hoped to recover so they could put up a better fight.

Led by clone Sergeant Appo, and Corporal Allison Church, a small group of three marines and four clone troopers along with the legendary MasterChief drove in three transport warthogs to salvage what they could, and find survivors of the crash.

"Not to be rude in anyway, but to us you guys are a bit primitive, so what kind of stuff would you guys have they we wouldn't have already created?" Red asked Ace as they finally saw the crashed vessel, which had heavy scorch and burn marks across its hull.

"I'm not too offended, technology doesn't always make much of a difference in terms of skill. You could have all the superior tech you could want and someone with better skills could beat you with a knife." He paused as they drove near a small cave inside of a pillar. "But back to the point, Reach was the pinnacle of our military power, other than earth, we had so much experimental stuff to combat the Covie's that it really hurt us when we lost her. You know your Jedi leader's lightsabers right? Well the split chins have similar weapons, so we created a way for the suit and shields of a spartan would be practically invincible to any kind of strike, even from a lightsaber. At least for a little bit. We have a large collection of our own laser weapons that could kill even shielded vehicles in a single shot. And some other beautiful gear that you'll just have to wait to see."

"Sounds like a star's end." Red replied with a sigh of relief. "I can't wait to see what you outlanders got in store for the bugs."

They soon arrived at an exposed portion of one the frigate's hangar bays, with its large metal doors broken apart in the crash. Even with the demolished entrance, the group soon found it to be accessible by foot. Most damage was inflicted on the exterior, leaving the insides of the ship intact while things like the hangars and the armor hull nearly completely destroyed..

"Jenkins, wait out by the hogs, the rest of us will be back soon. Hopefully with what we're looking for." Allison ordered as she started to walk inside, avoiding broken cables that laid over the jagged and smashed floor. Jenkins simply nodded and sat in the driving seat of the warthog. Sparks flew and lights flickered in fast motions as the group marched inside.

"Appo, we're gonna have to split up if we can cover everything we need to before any Covenant patrols show up. Take Ace with you, he'll know the way to the main armory." Allison stopped by a corridor that had a shattered wall. "I'm heading to the ship's storage bays, which are on the other side of the deck about a hundred meters or so from here. The MasterChief will head to the deck and use Cortana to check the state of the ship."

"Copy that Corporal Allison." Appo replied. "Ace, Red, come with me, the rest of you can go with her." The men nodded and split off, with Ace leading Appo and Red down the corridor.

Chief simply nodded and walked the opposite direction.

Appo followed closely behind Ace, who once he saw the armory, ran towards it like a child running to see presents on christmas morning. Ace quickly typed in a standard access code and the door made a _swoosh_ as it opened smoothly. To his pleasure, he quickly picked up a spartan laser from a weapons rack, and held it like a new toy. Placing the large weapon on his back, Ace went through the various crates and weapon racks until he came across a dream come true. Shoved in the corner, laid a large, round canister with a symbol of a man kneeling on the ground with his fist on the floor.

"Looks like this baby was thrown in her in a bit of a rush, but the weird thing is," Ace gestured to a pair of empty racks, "these rifles are all gone."

"So there could be survivors?" Appo asked, hoping for more soldiers to aid them in the fight.

"I'm not sure, there's a bunch of marine helmets here, which is unusual for marines to go without their standard gear, especially a lot of the recruits and younger men that were piled into this thing. If anyone that didn't evacuate and survived the crash, they would most likely wait around here for ammo."

"Then why aren't they here?"

"My best guess, they may have just packed up and left for the hills or they are hiding near one of the food storage areas, where they would be less likely to be detected by any Covie's." Ace carried the Armor Lock with him and walked past Appo, before saying, "Grab some explosives or anything useful you find, we can head back to the hogs and meet up with the corporal and get more gear before any of the bugs find us."

Appo and Red nodded and started rummaging through several containers, packed up what they could in their packs, then followed Ace out. The three quickly found their way out, but to their displeasure, the all too familiar sight of a Spirit dropship loomed in, and all they could do was wait for their foes to come for them.

 **CCS Battlecruiser,**

 **Holy Servitude**

A half hour after the Geonosian queen was safely secured on a Covenant Phantom dropship, she was placed in her own chambers inside the heart of the battlecruiser. Poggle the lesser waited patiently outside Koso's personal chambers for analli. After careful thought and the fact the Covenant was a very powerful force that was shown to be able to stomp the Republic, he had start to think it was best for his people to join the Covenant and work with them to build more of their weapons and tools of war against humanity itself.

After safely securing the Geonosian queen, Poggle knew his best option was to work with this new faction in the galaxy. And after seeing what kind of wonderfully destructive vehicles and units they had in their possession, he looked forward to watching more of them be built and even improved upon, by his people.

Soon, the door drew open with Koso standing by a desk-like area with two nearly identical holographic displays, written in both their language, and that of the Geonosians.

"I apologize for the wait, my ally, I was discussing matters with a fleetmaster that I know well. Thel 'Vadamee, my brother in this war, and his fleet were surprisingly close to this system after they chased down and eradicated a human vessel. After discussing the situation and the events that had happened here, he spoke with the hierarchs and will join us soon, with a fleet over twice the size of my own."

"Good, all the better for my people." Poggle replied with a smile, then quickly walked to the side as his queen and several guards walked past him, and she rested on a mat-like chair.

"Great queen of Geonosis," Koso greeted her with a small bow as he stood by the desk. "I am honored to meet you, and joyful your people decided to join our cause."

The queen simply sat for a moment, her wings fluttered as she began to speak, "We too, are honored to meet you aboard your powerful ship, but before we join officially, what terms are there between my people and yours? To what extent would you require our services for protection and benefits in the annihilation of the humans that attacked Geonosis?"

Koso pressed a finger over the display desk, which activated, and showed off several holograms of the droid models and equipment they were making in their factories before they ceased production.

"The 'droids' your people were creating are largely weak, I propose that we increase the size of your factories and start building the Covenant's most powerful weapons of war. Such as these," the desk then displayed images of scarabs, locusts, and various vehicles. "these large walkers are called scarabs, they are mostly mining vehicles, but have lately been refitted for combat. The other walkers are locusts, they were built as a smaller version of the scarab in ways. Both can crush Republic tanks with relative ease. We hope to increase their amount by hundreds with your people."

The room was relatively cool, especially in comparison to the hot lands of Geonosis. Most environments were easy to survive in for the Sangheili and grunts, so they had little trouble working around the Geonosian factory. Dozens of the two were stationed inside along with hundreds of Geonosians around the area, with thousands more waiting in the caves for their queen's orders.

"You spoke of humans in your galaxy, how powerful were they?" She inquired.

"The infidels are primitive and only had hundreds of ships that are largely inadequate against our fleet. You needn't worry about our abilities, great queen. Besides, our vessels have capabilities the humans can't ever achieve." Koso pressed several buttons on the desk, which then displayed the holographic image of a planet. "This is the planet they call Reach, a highly important military world for the humans of our galaxy. Their defenses numbered in nearly two hundred vessels and many defense stations, but our mighty fleet had destroyed it, and glassed the planet with a holy fire of plasma! One of their ships cowardly fled to your planet by accident and we followed to bring down justice upon them."

"Speaking of fleets," Poggle joined the conversation, "what is the exact size of the Covenant's warfleet? I'm curious to make sure you are capable to beat back the Republic dogs like you say you can."

"Our ships number in the thousands, so you don't need to worry-" Koso was cut off by an elite major running into the room.

"Sir," the major kneeled in respect, "the humans have been spotted by one of their crashed ships, and geonosian scouts say they spotted the demon."

As the major spoke, Koso typed several commands onto the table, which displayed his three ships and seven human ships, three were like the ones he witnessed before, but the other four were different, having a broader triangle and seemed slightly bulkier.

Turning back to the queen, Koso apologized for the interruption and turned his attention the major.

"Send a squad of Geonosians and jackals to end their nuisance, find out if the demon is really there, and if he is, end him quickly. " Koso ordered.

"Yes shipmaster." The major ran to his duty.

"Great queen, I promise you personally that the humans will soon be killed, and we shall continue your joining of the Covenant."

 **UNSC** _ **Divider,**_

 **Main Storage Facility**

Leading three clones and a pair of marines, Allison was joyful to see that the doors were functioning well.

"I'll head in first, spread out, look for anything useful." Allison ordered the men as she walked past the cold metal of the doorway. The room was dark, so flashlights were soon activated on the marines' rifles and the clones' helmets.

"This place kind of creeps me out." A clone trooper muttered. The floor creaked as they walked past massive crates and cargo holders. Some of the sensor lights began to flicker as they walked past them, but couldn't find the strength to come alive.

"Corporal Allison to Cortana, do you read me?" Allison asked through her helmet comm.

"We read you Allison, the Chief and I made it to the ship's deck, but I don't think we're alone."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Hold on a second, accessing diagnostics to the _Divider_. Most of the ship's systems are intact, and the ship took less damage than I expected, given enough time we can-"

"Cut to the chase Cortana." Allison interrupted.

"Right, while on our way here, we discovered that the ventilation shafts were, exposed. I'm scanning the ship for, wait.." Cortana paused. "Corporal! There are more lifeforms in there! I can't tell who or what, but they're moving in fast!"

The clones and marines began to get nervous, and looked frantically for any attackers. Allison barked orders for everyone to stay close and to prepare for the worse. She grew warm from the lack of air condition and the heat outside, until she felt the cold barrel of a gun pointed to the back of her neck.

 **Sorry for the shorter chapter, but I promise the next will amazing to read!**

 **If you enjoy my work, please check out my other story on my profile, called, "People of the Milky Way"**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello everyone! Welcome back to the Chronicles of War!**

 **Sorry it's been sooooo long since I've last posted, life has been hard but I hope to change my rate of posting.**

 **Anyways, as the drill goes, I don't own the franchises of Halo or Star Wars, only the OC's of my creation. Sorry for being so slow to update, enjoy!**

 **CCS Battlecruiser,** _ **Holy Servitude**_

 **Orbit of Geonosis**

Koso stood on the deck of his ship proudly. The room was cool and it gave him comfort as he looked over his fellow Sangheili, whom were busy at work keeping the ship occupied with work.

Just recently, the Geonosians formally declared their alliance with the Covenant, and the production of Covenant vehicles were underway. They had a starting plan of building twelve Scarabs, twenty Wraiths, and four AA 'Tyrants' so that they could test how capable the Geonosians are. Then they would continue building mostly Scarabs and wraiths. On the planet below, the _Truth and Reconciliation_ was being stripped for parts so the Geonosians could learn how to work with their technology. The Geonosian queen was placed even deeper in her catacombs along with a gift of a personal energy shield for the utmost protection.

But meanwhile, Koso knew the Republic would return, if the information he gathered was legitimate, this, 'Kenobi', would return for his lost comrades with little hesitation. But he knew what was best for his small fleet.

He would make them think his ship was the only one remaining and keep his other two battlecruisers cloaked.

He sent a squad of Jackals to reinforce a group of Geonosians that were cornering the humans inside their own ship. His Seraph fighters and Banshee interceptors now had experience with the new humans, and he was glad to see the Seraphs had dominated the planet's defenders before. And even if the humans came in a greater force, he knew that his comrade, Thel 'Vadamee, would reinforce him soon.?

"How close is Thel?" Koso asked the entirety of the deck. "I was told he would arrive by now."

"The Fleetmaster will arrive soon sir, but our jackals sent to find the humans have not reported in like they were suppose to, shall we send more?" The minor at his station answered.

"No. We must prepare our fighters and boarding craft for battle, I have a feeling the humans will retaliate soon."

Koso had taken the liberty to watch recordings of battles between CIS ships and Republic cruisers, and had studied battle strategies the humans called, 'The Republic', and hoped to find key weaknesses he could exploit.

He discovered his ships could fire at a much longer range, and that their hulls were relatively weak and relied much on their shields. He was confident that he could deal with them, but he would need Thel's fleet to make a large difference.

 **UNSC** _ **Divider**_

Years of military training helped Allison react with fast speeds, knocking away a needler rifle from the hands of a creeping jackal. Rifle raised, she gunned down the jackal and witnessed several geonosians fly from the ceiling.

 _It's a trap?_ She had hoped to take a small rest from having to fight the bugs all day, but to her dismay, she found her group and herself surrounded. Blasters, plasma, and bullet flashes lit up the room like fireworks as men dove for cover.

Realizing she was out in the open, she ran past some crates, until one in particular caught her attention. Ducking under plasma fire, she crawled towards the black box with an ONI mark, labeled, _Special Operations Grenade Launcher._ Grabbing it, and checking for ammo, she aimed the launcher at a group of unsuspecting geonosians, the grenade fired fast, bounced off the ground, and right in the center of them.

Jackals began to spread about and try to pick the group off, but were mostly killed by the accuracy of the experienced clones and marines. The fighting grew intense as everyone tried to duck from the firepower each group of beings.

Waves of plasma fire prevented Allison from firing upon the exposed grunts. A geonosian grabbed her from behind, trying to capture her. But this poor geonosian didn't know how bad a mistake he made, for Allison had training with the best of the best. She pushed the geonosian back, trying to free her arms as she sweep kicked the geonosian's legs, knocking it to the floor. She tackled the bug-like creature, and used her grenade launcher as a bat.

 _One._ The first swing made blood spill, and the geonosian tried hard to move.

 _Two._ The second swing left the geonosian dizzy, unable to resist from the strikes as the obviously superior soldier was beating him to death.

 _Three._ The geonosian twitched once, twice, then fell into the abyss of death.

Allison was quick to regain her cover, and noticed the jackals were falling back, only to be gunned down by Red, Ace, and Sergeant Appo, who all ran past the dead bodies towards Allison.

"Corporal," Ace saluted, "We've got a lot of gear, but jenkins and the warthog are destroyed, ma'am. A dropship was waiting outside and left once it saw us."

"Let's get back to the base, if the Covenant know we are here, we'll have no chance of escaping." Allison ordered, then clicked on her earpiece. "Allison to Cortana, we have what we came for, let's move out of here."

"Roger that Allison, Chief and I are, wait-" She paused, "I'm detecting signals of a battle going on in orbit!"

"Copy that Cortana, call in a few birds to get us out of here." The Chief waited at the controls. "Are the engines still operational?" He asked as he fiddled with the keypads.

"Those aren't going to be of much use unless, wait, you _are_ doing what I think you are doing, aren't you?" The Chief, for once in a great while, smirked under his helmet. "In that case, plug me in."

 **CCS Battlecruiser,** _ **Holy Servitude**_

 **Main deck**

The room was quiet.

Not quite in a sense of a lack of sound, _beeps_ and the humming of computers and scanners had filled that void. But instead, it was quiet since every mind and soul in the cruiser was focused on one thing and nothing else, the fight that would no doubt come to them soon. They focused on nothing else, not even caring about the human annoyances on the planet below. This battle would be extremely important as to how they could deal with fully capable Republic cruisers.

But the silence did not last much longer.

"Shipmaster! I'm detecting several energy readings similar to when the human ship escaped this planet!" A minor yelled from his position at his scanner post. "Our warriors are ready for the fight as we speak!"

Mere seconds afterwards, the minor's words bore fruit, and several ships jumped from faster than light speeds, dozens of kilometers away from Koso and his mostly hidden fleet. Three venator class cruisers came first, followed by two light cruisers and a pair of acclamators. All of which were in range of his plasma torpedos.

 _Thel better be here soon._ Koso thought as he began to worry about the hard odds that were against him.

"Prepare our fighters!" Koso roared over his men. "Seraphs in groups of ten while banshee interceptors in groups of three. Make sure they always protect our bombers. Have boarding craft ready once we fire our energy projectors on the leftside cruiser, and the light cruiser next to it. We shall surprise the human filth and hold our ground until Thel arrives with the fleet!"

A chorus of acknowledgements occurred simultaneously, and the crew went to work fast and efficiently.

Koso, once he was confident his men would continue their tasks, walked from his command chair towards his personal chambers. He then pulled out a 'trophy of war' he snatched from a Kig-Yar, who told him it was some type of plasma sword, but with only a single blade. He had fiddled with the small object for a few moments until he activated it, and decided to find the shipboard huragok.

 **Republic Venator Cruiser, The** _ **Order**_

 **Main Deck**

 _May the force be with you, master Kenobi._ The words from master Yoda echoed in Obi Wan Kenobi's mind.

In the hyperspace jump from Coruscant with his newly acquired fleet of ships, he had few moments to think and meditate about these events. He remembered the arrival of the UNSC, a group of humans from another galaxy, and the Covenant, a race of aliens that wanted to annihilate humanity itself. The Covenant was obviously powerful, their fighters mopped the floor with everything the Republic had, destroyed a cruiser and some of the UNSC's ships.

After his ships were beaten badly, he barely managed to return to Coruscant, and spoke with the council and the chancellor about the situation. The council was in shock about the discovery, and decided it best for Kenobi to lead a fleet to combat this threat.

With him, sat fellow jedi master, Ki-Adi-Mundi, who had taken much time to recuperate from the fighting on Geonosis.

As they sat in meditation inside Obi Wan's room, they focused through the force, recalling the new enemy, and searched for their signatures in the force. When they 'saw' Geonosis, they could feel the presences of Anakin, Ahsoka, Luminara, and many clone troopers. _Unfortunately_ , Obi Wan thought to himself, _it seems poor Barriss is gone._

He then 'saw' images of these people called the UNSC, but surprisingly, not matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find anything of the force. Only pain, death, and violence radiated from them. But what nearly scared Obi Wan, was the image of a tall and obviously powerful soldier. His armor was dark green, with a slightly golden visor, and he felt absolutely nothing radiated from his body.

Just as the two saw more of the new enemy, the Covenant, they began to see images of fighting between the clones and the massive aliens. Giant hulking beasts that carried large arm cannons and shields, eight foot tall warriors that had personal shields that held off blasters like they were nothing, and several large tanks and other creatures. But just as he got closer to the images, the sound of Obi Wan's door open reawakened them from their state.

"Generals, sorry to interrupt, but we are arriving to Geonosis in a minute." A clone deck officer said as he stood at attention.

"Thank you for alerting us, we shall head towards the deck." Mundi said as he walked past the two with his hands behind his back. Obi Wan followed suite, and the three walked to the deck just as they exited hyperspace. Standing with several officer, Admiral Yularen looked through the view point as they returned to real space, and against the, a lone CCS battlecruiser of the Covenant waited.

"Is this all they have left?" Obi Wan asked out loud. "Anakin must have been giving them a lot of trouble if they have only one left."

"Still, we must be cautious." Mundi said as he rubbed his chin. "This all feels strange."

"Well whatever the case, we must finish these aliens with our fleet and find the survivors on the planet." Yularen turned to a deck officer. "How close are we to firing range? I want us to fight from a distance before we move forward."

"We are nearly a thousand kilometers away from the ship, at this speed we will be in range in a few minutes." Just after he spoke, alarms roared and sensors were at full alert. Eyes widened, the deck officer looked over another officer's scanners, which showed numerous blips on the screen. "Admiral! We're picking up multiple readings from the enemy ship, and they're closing in fast!"

"Must be fighters." Admiral Yularen muttered to himself. "I've never seen anyone send fighters so far from their ships, aren't they worried they could lose them all?"

"Too small to be fighters, they're some kind of missiles!" Crewmen quickly went to work as the Admiral was shocked.

"How can they fire from that range and expect it to be successful if we can't?" The Admiral lightly shook his head, and continued. "Get our defense turrets ready for this volley, then increase or speed to firing range!"

"Too late! Prepare for impact!"

The _Order_ shook heavily, as several plasma torpedos rammed into it, not affecting the other vessels around it aside from radioactive damage, which caused the shields to flare and slowly drop from the pressure.

"That wasn't too bad." Yularen smirked. "Defense lasers are up and operational, now let's move in and save our men."

The ships increased speed, and the covered heavy distances in mere seconds as they prepared turbolasers to destroy the enemy ship. But unbeknownst to the Republic, not only did two other battlecruisers ready for their moment, and fleet led by the infamous Thel Vadamee, would arrive soon. The venators began to spread out, hoping to block off any escape the Covenant ship could try to have. How poorly they were mistaken.

Unknown to the Republic, the two other battlecruisers, still cloaked and undetectable, floated like invisible ghosts over the Republic ships, aiming their feared energy projectors over one of the Venators. Deactivating their cloaking devices, they revealed themselves to the Republic forces below them, and began to charge their projectors.

From the sides and hangers, squads of both Seraph and Banshee fighters spread from the targeted Venator, and began to circle the cruisers, trying to avoid the Republic defense lasers.

"Admiral! We've detected energy spikes from the enemy vessels above us!"

"Blast, incoming fire!" The Admiral shouted, just as two beautifully destructive beams of plasma boiled and cut through the left side light cruiser in seconds like tissue paper, then slowly aimed for a Venator below. "Send fighters to engage those bombers and attack those ships!"

"General, those ships are giving our men a beating, we need to act fast so we can deal with them!" Yularen shouted as the ship shook from plasma and debris.

'They are using the high ground, a good strategy' Obi Wan thought to himself."I'll get to my ship, if we can push past those ships, we can grab Anakin and the others then take care of the Covenant!"

"Best of luck General."

 **Fighter Bay**

"This is R-4 to Red leader, all fighters are ready for take for your lead, over." The hangar bay contained many ARC-170's and Z95 Headhunters, and every clone pilot was eager to face their new enemy. But Obi Wan was not as excited, but he felt confident that they could pull off a victory.

"Ready R-4, let's go save Anakin before he gets us all killed." Obi Wan took a breath as the hangar doors opened, releasing dozens of fighters to engage the enemy. The acclamators moved past the two CCS battlecruisers as the Venators engaged them.

After their energy projectors had done their work, the cruisers began to unleash barrages of plasma torpedos and launched more fighters to engage the incoming ARC's and headhunters.

Obi Wan looked ahead as he flew in with several ARC's to attack the bombers. The fighters were large and fast, in the shape of teardrops, and obviously very deadly.

"R-5 this is R-4, begin your attack, we'll take care of the bombers." The comms filled with confirmations and attack patterns as fighters broke off to engage their targets. The small group flew down as they got into range of the seven bombers. "Weapons in range, open fire!"

The ARC's and Obi Wan's Jedi starfighter quickly fired off several bursts from their blaster cannons, most of the blasts hit their target, but the shields merely shook them off. Fighting shielded fighters was new to the clone pilots, as most were shocked their blasts did nothing to the enemy fighters. R-4 continued to press on as his ARC avoided several bursts of plasma from the Seraph's as they finished off a bombing run. Banshees flew in and fired upon the group on the side, trying to outflank them.

"Incoming fighters! I need more ARC's protecting the ships!" Obi Wan yelled over the comms. "R-4 protect our Y-wing bombers and get those cruisers away from us!"

"Right away general."

Plasma and lasers blasted from ships and fighters, explosions roared and damaged ships and gave off shockwaves. Fighters blew apart on both sides. Wings and bodies from banshees and headhunters flew across the space as they were hit. A headhunter was blown apart right by Obi Wan, who cursed to himself as the Seraph's were taking out fighter after fighter while being slowly beaten back by point defense lasers and the Republic's number superiority.

'Flying is for droids.' Obi Wan thought to himself as he barely avoided a fuel rod shot from a banshee. His comms were in chaos, as pilots yelled over it, asking for support, assistance, or were simply trying to regroup.

"Those fighters' shields are too strong! I can't take it out GAAAAH-" The poor headhunter was obliterated by the scorching hot plasma from multiple banshees, which swooped in and burned the fighter to a crisp. While the banshees were mostly outclassed, the Seraphs did great work at dealing with the much weaker and smaller Republic fighters.

"Eel-3 to all remaining Y-wing bombers, converge on the leading enemy cruiser, my boy's will give you a path!" The leader of Eel squadron shouted, his team of ARC's were doing better than most fighters on the field, and they even managed to kill a few of the dreaded Seraphs.

"Copy that Eel leader." The bomber leader acknowledged.

Multiple banshees flew in to engage, but were quickly gunned down by the ARC's of Red squadron. The fighters, led by General Kenobi, strode in fast and fought hard, taking out several banshees before the shielded Seraphs took notice. Several ships on both sides became balls of plasma or fire during the hectic fighting, and no end seemed to be in sight as cruisers began to close in on one another, giving the acclamators a way to move forward.

"R-7 I need assistance I've got bogeys on my tail!" A pilot shouted.

"I can't help you R-9 I've got my own problems." The other pilot shouted as he fired upon a banshee, which immediately did some kind of side roll to avoid the shots. R-7 was then shot down by a Seraph fighter before it went for another bombing run.

"R-4, get your squad to align with me, we are going for one of those ships." Obi Wan said as he destroyed a banshee then flew next to the pilot he was addressing.

"Right away sir, Eel squadron is already making a clearing, moving in to assist."

The fighters flew together in formation, facing the Seraphs and Banshees head on in a glorious attack. The sight was beautifully destructive, fighters being torn to pieces, plasma and blaster fire tore through and collided. Not a second could go by when a fighter wasn't hit. The Republic was slowly pulling off a victory. Banshees weren't very good one on one, and Seraphs were in smaller number.

 **CCS Battlecruiser,** _ **Holy Servitude**_

"Shipmaster, our ships are being hit heavily! We are losing this battle." A minor yelled as he continued to check on the two cruisers and their fighters.

"They are fighting well, let them die with honor." Koso clicked his mandibles together rubbed the hoot of his sword. He knew that he was for once outmatched, and prayed that their reinforcements would arrive soon.

"There's not much more we can do." Another minor said as he prepared the ship to send more plasma torpedoes. While they had superior range, fighters, and their energy projectors, the three battlecruisers were having a lot of trouble dealing with the greater numbers the Republic had.

"There is one thing." Koso muttered to himself. "Prepare to be boarded. I will duel with this Jedi, it will buy us some time. Evacuate all nonessential beings, I want teams of grunts to surprise the boarders and weed out the weaker ones."

"Are you sure shipmast-"

"It's the only option left. Empty the ship, get everyone off save a few grunts. And ready a broadcast, I would like to meet this Jedi."

"As you wish, opening all hangar bays now."

 **Red Squadron**

For once in his lifetime, Obi Wan saw a Covenant ship be destroyed. The brilliant bursts of blue and purple plasma erupted from the once whole Battlecruiser. After several hard attempts at bombing and sheer firepower from the fleet, one of the Covenant cruisers was finally defeated along with its twin, leaving the the last one open and alone.

"Targets one and two are down1" R-4 shouted with glee, as the two powerful warships had finally been defeated.

Obi wan was less gleeful, and asked, "Admiral, how many did we lose?"

He was first met with a long, deep sigh, and the admiral spoke, "Our losses were severe, we lost a Venator, most of our fighters, and both of our light cruisers in the fight. Not only that, but most of our other ships dealt heavy damage to the shields and hull, thank the force we only have one last ship to face."

"Indeed, but I sense something strange happening on that ship." Obi Wan rubbed his beard, and flew in line with the rest of the remaining fighters.

"That ship's bay doors are all opening, but it's not trying to attack us." R-4 pointed out as he flew over his general. "It's evacuating!"

Suddenly, his commlinks were cut out by static, until a deep, powerful voice boomed through.

"Human, I am shipmaster Koso Sadumai, the warrior leading this fleet. Do you understand me?"

"I do." Obi wan replied after a moment of silence.

"Good. If you any honor Jedi, you will face me, one warrior to another, to see who is truly better."

"And why would I do that?"

"I've heard quite a lot about your skill from powerful allies I've gained, and I want to test your apparent skill. And to help you decide, I've targeted my energy projector over a small base your ally is attacking. What was his name, ah yes, Anakin."

"But if I were to duel you, what would happen?"

"If you win, it proves my skill is inferior, and bring dishonor on my Covenant, and you'll have a chance to save your allies. But if I win, you will die. Simple enough?"

"Yes." After that, the line cut out and his comlink was free to contact everyone else.

Obi wan took a breath, and he gave an order to cease fire on the ship.

 **UNSC** _ **Divider**_

"You're gonna do what?!" Allison exclaimed into the helmet mic.

"With all due respect Corporal, the _Divider_ is dust, blowing her engines can give us a big enough explosion to destroy any nearby targets and and forces that we can draw this way."

"Copy that, let's get the hell out of here, how long until the _Divider_ blows?" Allison placed her grenade launcher on her back, and picked up her shotgun.

"I've set an indicator on everyone's HUD, the countdown is starting at about thirty minutes, plenty of time."

Ace, Appo, and Red had counted up all the gear they had piled up so far for the dropships.

"And what does this one do?" Appo pointed at one of the experimental armor abilities the _Divider_ had taken from Reach.

"Hologram. It gives of a holographic image of the user in a running motion, good for distracting enemies or making it look like you're not alone." Ace said with a little smirk.

"Sounds pretty useful for fooling clankers." Red picked up what Ace called the Spartan laser. "Well this thing's got some weight to it, but that seems to be a pattern to your guy's equipment, heavy and effective."

"Alright boys." Allison walked up to the group. "Let's get our asses out of here asap."

"Copy that Corporal." Appo grabbed a bag full of gear, but kept his blaster ready for anything that might try to kill him.

"How long till evac arrives ma'am?" Ace asked as he did the same as Appo.

"Five minutes, now get you wannabe badasses out of here."

 **CCS Battlecruiser** _ **Holy Servitude**_

Koso stood by the hangar patiently. The shields lowered to allow any ship or transport to enter without any difficulty. So he hoped the Republic, and most importantly, the Jedi, would take the bait. All that remained aboard the vessel was himself and several unggoy, so that of the Jedi doesn't agree to his terms, he would glass where his fellow Jedi were spotted at.

It didn't take long for some kind of shuttle to move in on the now empty hangar. The shuttle had three straight wins, with one pointing straight up, while others pointed downwards. It was big enough to carry several people, he could tell. The shuttle slowly landed inside, and calmly released a door on the bottom that, after several seconds, had the Jedi walk through it, followed by four clone troopers.

Koso counted the odds in his head, if the clones were to attack, he has full confidence his unggoy could over power the smaller amount of clones, and he would kill the Jedi. But instead, the clones stood by the sides of the ship and waited, while the human Jedi walked forward calmly.

The six unggoy stood behind Koso, each carrying either plasma pistols or needlers.

"Hello there!" Obi Wan shouted. "You must be Koso." The man stopped a few feet in front of the towering Sangheili.

"And you must be the infamous Kenobi. I've heard many things about you." Koso surprised Obi Wan by his clear fluency in basic.

"Then you'll know I'm a man of my word. Besides, as you said, I don't have much of a choice."

"It's good to see a human realize his inevitable end."

"You will honor the terms you've set?" Obi Wan asked.

"If not, I would be dishonored. Now," Koso activated his energy sword, creating a beautiful magnetized blade of hot plasma. "Prepare yourself, human."

Without saying a word, Obi Wan activated his lightsaber, and pointed it at Koso, along with two fingers on his left hand.

The two warriors stares at one another, every time one would take a step to the left, the other would take a step to the right, or vice versa. This circling game went on for only a few seconds to the impatient unggoy and worried clones, but felt like hours to the concentrated swordsmen.

Finally, Koso ran forward, giving off a battle cry and took a mighty swing, only to barely miss the acrobatic Jedi. Obi Wan retaliated, using the force to give him a boost of strength, he lunged forward, the two blades met for the first time, and gave off sparks of plasma as the two put their strength into their next attacks.

Koso swung to the left and the right of Obi Wan at fast speeds, with the Jedi barely blocking the attacks and rarely taking the offensive.

The two warriors locked eyes, each determined to win no matter the cost.

Koso lunged forward again, only to be met by a heavy force push from Obi Wan, knocking the surprised Sangheili over to the ground.

"What?" Koso roared in confusion. "Demon! Your sorcerer tricks won't save your heretic spine from being cut from my blade!" Koso charged forward again, the two swords meeting each other again, each at near impossible to see speeds, the warriors were neck and neck, with no one able to determine a winner.

Obi Wan jumped up, hoping to catch Koso off guard and struck down heavily. Reacting quickly, Koso met the blade with his own, and the lightsaber was now caught in between the energy sword's twin blades.

Koso laughed to himself, and twisted his wrist back and forth in sudden motion, forcing the lightsaber to be knocked away from Obi Wan.

"Now you die dem-BWAAA" Koso was knocked back by the force again, and he lost the grip to the sword, and it fell mere feet away from him.

Obi Wan pulled the lightsaber back into his hand and reignited it.

"It's," Obi Wan took a heavy breath, "over. You've lost Koso, you've beaten, and so is your Covenant."

But before anyone could react, nine holes of slipspace broke open, just as Koso hoped, Thel's fleet had finally arrived.

"Fool!" Koso stood up, his back turned to the fleet as Obi Wan and the clones looked in shock. "You think this is it? Heretic scum, now see the power of a TRUE fleet."

Thel's fleet had appeared, with two assault carriers, six battlecruisers, and a destroyer. All ready to decimate the smaller Republic fleet. That could barely react.

"General! We need to get out of here now, our ships are trying to secure the dropships that are escaping the planet, get off that ship!" Yularen yelled over the comlink.

"Let's get out of here!" Obi Wan yelled to the clones, running from plasma for and barely escaping to Obi Wan's ship.

Regaining his stance, Koso pointed to the unggoy, ordering them to get a signal ready to Thel's fleet.

 **UNSC** _ **Divider**_

"Kriff, get your shebs going trooper!" Red yelled at the men who were rushing to the Pelicans. The two pelicans were now full of troops and gear they collected.

"Johnson this is Allison, do you copy?" Allison panted into the mic of her helmet as she jumped into the pelican.

"We read you Corporal, our boys are evacuating from the _Autumn_ and are moving to what the kid says is some sort of assault ship, it's in atmosphere."

"It won't be much there much longer sir." Silence filled the link, followed by small moments of static, but the lack of response almost worried Allison for a moment.

"Oh please don't tell me." Johnson sighed after dreading the thought for a moment.

"The Covenant sir," Allison confirmed the Sergeant Major's fears. " Covenant reinforcements, a lot of them."

MasterChief ran at an easy forty miles and hour, grabbing the clone that was falling behind and jumped into the pelican.

"Everyone is here." Cortana stated calmly. "Now can we please get off this dust ball?"

"As long as you're not driving, we'll get off soon without a hitch." Chief responded with an unseen smirk under his helmet.

"Very funny."

With everything onboard, the pelicans and LAAT's rendezvoused with each other, all racing to get to the acclamator class assault ship before the Covenant arrived right on top of them.

"Echo-419 to Republic acclamator, we are closing in fast, get your asses ready to get out of here!"

"Copy that echo-419, this is Captain Cuy, we are awaiting your arrival."

"Shit, got fighters on my tail." Foehammer cursed as a several Geonosian fighters and banshees attacked the gunships and pelicans. A pelican was hit by several balls of plasma, meaning the death to a dozen marines and clone troopers as it crashed into the desert floor of the planet.

The LAAT's fired back, taking out a few fighters and dispersing the rest as they neared the acclamator.

"Look at the size of that thing!" Red peaked through the pilot's viewpoint, being one of the first clones to ever see a CAS-assault carrier, which was nearly five times the size of a Venator. "I've never seen a ship that size before in my life."

"Just be glad it's not a supercarrier, makes those assault carriers look small." Ace sighed with a painful mix of fear and hatred in his eyes.

 _What the kriffing hell did we get ourselves into_? Red thought to himself as the pelican shook. The hangar bay was opened, allowing the dozen ships to land inside safely, and the acclamator started its hyperdrive engine as well as the remaining Republic ships.

"All ship's are ready, setting course for the Naboo system." Cuy stated over a form of speakers. The two Venators and last acclamator retreated, like cats with tails between their legs. And as they fled, the Covenant gained a small, yet very important victory in this new stage of human/Covenant war.

 **Wow, that was something, but I'm glad i finally finished that chapter. Sorry it took so long guys, don't worry, the chapters should be going back into a better pattern of posting. Next chapter will be here soon.**

 **Until next time!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Well first off, thank you all for the good reviews! Glad to know plenty of you all still care about this story. By the way, if any of y'all have an idea for an original character like a Jedi, marine, clone, etc, you would want to create and be added into the story, please pm me or leave it in a review and I'll try to include them!**

 **This chapter is going to have little to no action, mostly R &R, and building up the next battles ahead, which a promise will be enjoyable.**

 **Republic Venator,** _ **The Order**_

 **Hyperspace route to Republic Medical Station**

The _Order_ was in a state of what appeared to be chaos. Medics and droid doctors were at constant work, treating bad plasma burns and wounds from shrapnel damage from the battles fought for survival on the harsh terrain of Geonosis.

The medbay turned into a mess of a sickening smell of death and sorrow itself. The floors were full of bodies and small pools of blood littered the once clean-white surface. Marines and clones shrieked in pain and there were a few cases of delirious marines overreacting and attacking droids that tried to apply medication, fearing they were being tortured.

The fighter bay was full of hardened fighters and dropped ships, but was much less cluttered than it used to be, a sad sign for all the clone pilot deaths that occurred in the fighting.

One of the few places where the chaos was much smaller was, surprisingly, the main deck, courtesy of the Jedi calming the room's 'vibe' with the force.

The ship now contained five Jedi, including Ahsoka, and they immediately began discussing the battles with Admiral Yularen, Captain Keyes, and Sergeant Johnson.

"By the force." Mundi was baffled by some of the things Anakin and Johnson were saying about the Covenant. From the glassing to the death toll, the events he was being told sounding like they came straight from a horror themed holo-vid.

"It's true Master Mundi." Anakin sighed with an obvious hint of anger. "The Covenant is more powerful than we thought, and they have been wiping out billions of people."

"And Mister, Johnson is it? You said that this covenant have been at war with you for thirty years? How is that possible?" Mundi looked at Johnson with wide eyes.

"They've burned hundreds of worlds, for years we've been fighting a losing battle against the bastards. We were fighting a losing war." Johnson puffed his cigar, leaning on the side wall with his arms crossed.

"Well if this Covenant is as powerful as you say, the council and the senate need to hear of this immediately."

"And they will, once our men are placed in the medical station, we will be well on our way." Obi Wan cut in. It wasn't the only reason they had to stop, since geonosis didn't have a direct hyperlane to Coruscant, they made a jump to their medical station, which did have a direct route to Coruscant.

And as he finished speaking, the Republic vessels had stopped at the medical station.

"So that's it eh?" Keyes crossed his arms. "I trust your people can take care of my men?"

"You have my word, Captain." Obi Wan assured him with a warm smile. Keyes nodded in return, feeling more comfort with Obi Wan's promise.

"Move everyone in need of medical care to the acclamator, it shall remain here for now while we make it to Coruscant." Yularen ordered.

 _ **The Order,**_ **Mess hall**

"Come on Boil!" Waxer cheered for his friend among the crowd of cheering soldiers.

Boil had gotten himself into an arm wrestling contest, something both the UNSC and the Republic soldiers seemed to enjoy.

Boil had made it to the second round, going up against Ace and the two seemed to be pretty evenly matched.

"Come on," Ace said with a grin as he was gaining the upper hand, "I've taken on elites."

Boil grunted as he started applying more strength than before. The two were an even match, until Boil got an idea.

"Hey look!" Boil looked up suddenly. "It's MasterChief!" He distracted Ace, who turned slightly, and with a sudden boost of energy, Boil slammed Ace's hand down on the end of the table, signifying a win.

Several clones cheered for Boil's victory, and Ace stood up out of the way for the next match.

"Damn boy tricked me." Ace shook his head as he sat down next to Red.

Red patted Ace on the back with a chuckle. "Your body needs a bit of rest anyways, come on, let's go target practice."

"Sounds good to me." Ace smiled and followed Red out from the mess hall.

The sounds of blaster bolts and bullets hitting their targets could be heard from the other end of the hallway as Ace and Red walked together.

The sound of a battle rifle repeated at rapid speed, muffling the sound of blaster fire until it came to a stop.

"Kriffing hell Chief you haven't even missed a single hit yet, I don't think these targets are at your level." Rex shook his head while messing with the controls. "Last level yet, this time they are moving at near blaster fire speed."

The room was full of clone troopers and marine marksmen that all were now focusing on the chief's impressive aim and accuracy, all waiting to see how fast he could be.

"Alright," Rex smirked as he turned towards chief, with his land an inch above a red button, "go!"

The small droids flew across the room as fast speed, firing yellow stun bolts towards the Chief, who returned fire with several bursts from his battle rifle at alarmingly fast speed, hitting every target in seconds.

"Stop hogging all the targets Chief!" Ace yelled at the massive soldier, who got a laugh from several people in the room.

"I gotta introduce you to delta squad, they'd love you." Rex remarked as he stopped the timer. "All ten droid targets destroyed in ten seconds, nice."

"Well technically it was nine point seven seconds, your timer was a tad off." Cortana said with a hint of sass in her voice.

Ace rolled his eyes and walked up towards the range.

"Mind setting up another round Cap?" Ace grabbed a DMR and looked at his clone friend. "You and me, Red, let's see who's better."

"Well we already know who's the better marksman, but I could go easy on you."

Ace laughed as Red walked up next to him with a blasted rifle. Both took aim as the droids activated, but stopped as soon as a hologram of Admiral Yularen appeared next to the controls.

"We will be arriving in moments, I recommend you all ready for departure from the ship once we land." He quickly said, then the hologram was deactivated. He was clearly in a rush and still tired from the insanity of the battle over Geonosis.

 **Coruscant**

As the fleet exited hyperspace, the bridge's viewpoint was now full of hundreds of ships flying in and out of the massive city planet. Each minded their own business, paying little attention the sudden appearance of the star destroyers and went on with their daily routine of life.

"Bring us towards the bay closest to the Senate building and prepare dropships to depart." Yularen ordered calmly.

"So this is Coruscant?" Keyes looked wide eyed at the massive site. "Impressive."

"Indeed. Did you know our capital here has about a trillion people of various races?" Yularen smirked.

"A trillion? Damn, that's incredible." Keyes took in a heavy breath of air as the ships lowered close to the planet's surface.

"Please, Captain Keyes, follow our Jedi friends to a dropship, the Senate would want to meet with you." Yularen finished the conversation and continued his duties.

 **Senate Building**

The senate building was an amazing building, for such a massive place of importance to the Republic. Thousands of meetings, bills, and the passing of new laws occurred here for millennia. But today, was a different type of meeting. Not a meeting over trade disputes and legalized invasions, instead, a much more important kind of meeting. With an important speech in the center of it all. And unbeknownst to many, this meeting would forever change the entirety of the war and the very future of the galaxy.

Inside contained thousands of Senators and important governing officials, with Keyes now in the center of it all.  
Jacob Keyes stood in the center of what he figured was some type of massive meeting room, as he stood before hundreds of various alien races neither he, nor the UNSC had ever seen.

Keyes was unsure for a moment how to start, as hundreds of beings states directly at him, watching his every movement and ready to listen.

"Senators and citizens of the Republic, I am Captain Jacob Keyes of the UNSC and the Pillar of Autumn, a ship that accidentally jumped in orbit of a planet you call Geonosis. But we were quickly followed by a genocidal group of species called the Covenant." Keyes pauses for a moment, taking a deep breath. "And for nearly thirty years, my people, under the earth and her colonies, have battled an alien enemy far more powerful than anything ever before seen. Billions have been slaughtered in this war and hundreds of world's burned to a crisp."

Looking to his side he nodded to Cortana and have her the signal. The hologram that was used for visuals in the senate house came to life, displaying several images of burned world's and clips of Covenant ships grassing said planets.

Senators started to suddenly feel sick to their stomachs at the horrific sites. Especially the senator of Ryloth, who could feel his previous meal rise back up to his throat.  
"During first contact with the Covenant, they immediately attacked, and brought our civilization to its knees. For nearly three decades the Covenant have waged genocide against humanity, burning hundreds of our worlds until they are nothing but glass. With every man, woman, and child crushed under their feet."

The Senate remained quiet for a few seconds, then quickly erupted with roars of questions and remarks every Senator seemed to repeat several times.

Palpatine tried to calm the Senators down, his calm voice seemed to be able to relax the Senators that had been listening to Keyes' speech.

"Captain, if you don't mind, may we ask you some questions about where you came from." The man gave a warm smile as he spoke, looking friendly and proffessional at the same time, as any good politician would do.

"As long as it doesn't involve any classified information," Keyes paused for a moment, looking at the older man, "then yes."

Palpatine smiled with a short nod, and pressed a few buttons on a console he had on his chair, which activated a holographic image of the MasterChief.

"I've heard many things about this 'MasterChief', and his capabilities witnessed on Geonosis. This man has been seen to have skills even many jedi don't have. I've heard that he can push tanks, flip scout vehicles and dodge blaster fire." The Chancellor played clips taken from the HUD's of different soldiers that recorded the MasterChief fighting. "Tell me, how can he do these things? And is he the only one that can?"

"Forgive me, Chancellor, but that information is highly classified. But i can say, that MasterChief isn't the only spartan in the UNSC." Keyes said calmly.

Taking a deep breath, the Chancellor switched the hologram images from MasterChief, to images of Covenant forces, and a static-filled clip of the arrival of a large Covenant fleet.

"The Geonosians seemed to have joined your enemy. In doing so, they left our enemies, the Separatist Alliance, if we can-"

"Geonosis is just the beginning." Keyes said bitterly. "As we speak the Covenant are plotting their next move, whether it's convert a new species or glass a planet as a show of force, no matter what it is we have to fight them before they kill us all!"

"Chancellor, permission to speak?" A certain Senator of Naboo seemed to add her voice over the sudden silence.

"Of course my dear," Chancellor replied with a kind smile, "the Senate recognizes the Senator of Naboo."

"Greetings Captain Keyes, I am Padme Amidala, of Naboo. May I ask some questions?"

Keyes nodded at the Senator without a word, and fiddled again with the pipe he kept in his pocket.

"Shouldn't we at least try to negotiate with these beings? Diplomacy can save billions from war, shouldn't that be the better alternative to war?"

"We can't, they don't listen to reason, they despise us, they don't care about diplomacy, they want to extinguish us!"

With that, Keyes left the center as his chair floated away and back to where it was previously stationed, and let the Senate continue it's uproars of remarks and questions.

 **CAS-assault carrier,** _ **Seeker of Truth**_

 **Head of the fleet of Particular Justice**

 **Main deck**

Geonosis was now an official planet member of the Covenant empire. For the Covenant, this victory was very important, especially for Koso.

Being the first to score a victory in the new part of the Galaxy, he was called to the main deck of Thel's ship to discuss his findings about their new enemy.

"I apologize for the wait, my friend." Thel looked at Koso from his command chair. "My forces were busy assisting our comrades to put an end to Atriox's forces."

"The brute? He's dead?" Koso was surprised at the sudden information.

"We're don't know for sure, all that remained of his fleet were a single assault carrier." Thel turned the chair around towards the front as Koso walked up beside him.

"And what of the supercarrier?"

"Recaptured by several special operation units when they boarded. The fool thought he could destroy the _Unyielding Hierophant_ and tried to ambush it."

Koso scoffed. "Against our five hundred capital ships? That heretic is as dumb as an unggoy."

Thel remained silent for a moment, letting Koso finish his remark with a snicker, then tapped several command keys on his chair.

"Forgive me, but I assumed you were going to ask me more questions-"

"It is not I who will be the one asking the questions," Thel interrupted, right as a hologram of the great Prophet of Truth appeared.

Koso immediately bowed, his fist clenched to his heart closest to his opposing arm.

"Noble Prophet of Truth, you honor me greatly with your presence."

"You flatter me." Truth responded. "I have been told you performed quite a victory here, and brought a new species into our Covenant."

"Thank you high prophet, I did not expect to be greeted with your holy presence." Koso kept his stance, not moving muscle except when he took a breath, which he rarely would in front of such a high member of the Covenant.

"You've done well against these new humans. Your tactics in our holy task have been deadly and efficient, your strategy when engaging these advanced humans are noteworthy, commander."

"Commander?" Koso was almost shocked.

"Indeed, Thel shall be dealing with what remains of the humans in our part of the Galaxy, while you shall lead the assault into this one along with various fleetmaster's commanding small fleets that you will have under your command." Truth smirked as the newly appointed commander's surprise.

"Thank you my liege, may the humans burn along with any race that allies with them." Koso stood back up, looking at the Prophet directly.

"Good, your new fleet shall arrive soon, and I must leave. For we have discovered a new gift from the gods that I hope to see." With that, the hologram was deactivated.

Thel patted his brother in war on the back twice, saying, "Now you have the honor to lead your new fleet. I shall also depart, may the gods be with you, brother."

"And they shall." Koso turned, as he readied himself to see his new fleet, and left the deck without another word.

It didn't take long for Koso to reach a hangar bay, and when he did, he quickly took a phantom dropship, escorted by two banshee interceptors, and waited to see his fleet arrive in the system, which wasn't a long wait.

Over sixty holes tore from slipspace, and out from them, came several different, and all beautiful, Covenant ship classes. From frigates to destroyers, all led by three massive CAS-assault carriers. As if on cue of the arrival, Thel's fleet also went through slipspace, now that their presence was no longer needed in the area.

Koso named off the types and amounts of ships as his phantom flew towards the leading carrier.

 _Seventeen frigates, thirty-two battlecruisers, twelve heavy destroyers, two corvettes, a DDS-carrier, and three CAS-assault carriers._ Koso counted them up. _Sixty-seven in total._

"Now this is a fleet worthy of my new status." Koso muttered to himself.

 **Jedi Temple, Coruscant**

Inside the jedi temple, at its peak, was the main council chamber, a circle of soft, variously shaped chairs surrounded by glass, with one exit, the room was well cared for and always looking it's best.

The majority of the Jedi Masters sat, whether in person or via hologram, nearly every member of the council was present, and for good reason. In the center, stood the MasterChief, Obi Wan, Anakin, and now Captain Keyes, who had returned from his long speech in front of the entirety of the senate.

Now, Keyes stood in front of another important audience.

"Where's Master Windu?" Obi Wan asked Grand master Yoda, after noticing the lack of the master's presence.

"Fighting on Ryloth, he is. Separatists reinforcements, there were." Yoda replied. "Problem, small it is." Yoda then assured the Jedi.

"Only a handful of ships, trying to catch our forces off guard, we sent Windu to reinforce." Plo Koon finished for the Grand Master.

'These jedi are an, interesting group aren't they?' Cortana said inside the safety of the Chief's helmet. But strangely, her remark somehow drew the attention of Yoda.

"Said that, who did?" He asked.

'The hell? He's looking at us Chief.' Cortana was obviously surprised. 'It's impossible for him to hear me, unless-'

"Hear you, I can. Reveal yourself, will you?" Yoda revealed his teeth in a small smile.

Chief turned to Keyes, then looked back at the Jedi for another second before nodding. Chief reached back behind his helmet, and pulled out Cortana's AI chip. WIth his left hand, he activated the chip, which revealed Cortana, who smiled.

"Ah, good to see you, face to face, it is."

"Greetings, I am Cortana. How did you do that?" Cortana asked, confused by the small green alien.

"The force, powerful it is. A droid, you are?" Yoda asked with a friendly, almost jolly tone as he stared at Cortana's small figure. "Unlike any droid i've seen, you are."

"True, I'm an advanced AI that can relay tactical and scientific information in milliseconds that a normal person would take hours or even days to accomplish." She obviously bragged about herself. "And currently the most intelligent AI known to humanity. If I do say so myself."

"MasterChief is it?" Master Koon asked the massive super soldier. "May I ask about your encounters with the Covenant? If we were to go to war, we'd like to know somethings about them. Vehicle strength, numbers of soldiers, tactics, anything."

"I'll keep it simple." Chief started, quickly filling the room with his powerful voice. "Grunts. Smaller than a normal human, strong in groups, weak alone. Jackals, incredible snipers, most carry defense shields that cover their bodies. Brutes, large apes that are strong and have thick muscle and armor. Deadly at mid to close range. Hunters, heavy tank like warriors, mostly stay in pairs of two. Carry massive cannons, don't piss them off. Drones, small insectoid creatures that swarm in on enemies, can fly. Elites, the backbone of the Covenant, powerful, tall, and most importantly, intelligent. Carry personal shields that can handle multiple hits from small arms fire. Scarabs are large four legged walkers with a massive plasma cannon as well as a secondary anti-air turret, built to tear apart entire lines of armor and weapon placements. Locusts, their smaller cousins, also carry plasma beams but also have shields. Wraiths, tanks with a plasma mortar and tough armor. Ghosts and choppers are light vehicles made to kill infantry and cut through enemy lines as well as scout areas. Spectres, revenants, and prowlers are medium level vehicles with deadly weaponry and decent armor. The Covenant use various dropships that carry plasma cannons to help the infantry they drop off get to cover." Chief took a deep breath before he continued.

"Covenant ships are massive and incredibly powerful. Tough shields and armor, most carry heavy plasma weapons such as energy projectors and plasma torpedos. The biggest ship ever seen was their supercarrier, a near thirty kilometer long ship that has unimaginably powerful shields and weapons. Typical capital ships stand at over five thousand meters long with several energy projectors, built to assault entire planetary defenses and carry thousands of troops. Mainline ships are usually frigates, destroyers, and battlecruisers. All armed to the teeth."

"That's the jist of it. But it's also important to know they don't give a damn about casualties, they don't seem to care about what happens to any individual." Cortana said after the Chief finished. "Now do you understand our predicament?"

Many heads nodded as they thought about all the things Chief listed and the things they heard about during the speech in the Senate building.

"Understand, we do." Yoda nodded towards the small group in the center. "This Covenant, dangerous they are. Act quickly we must."

"I agree." Shaak Ti stated. "They declared war on us by attacking at Geonosis, and we shall answer with full force."

"Yes, we must put an end to the Covenant. Genocidal wars are not welcomed in the galaxy." Koon held his hands together.

"But we don't have the forces to fight them and the Covenant at the same time." Anakin pitched in his two cents, then turned to Captain Keyes. "How many ships do your people have? Can the UNSC help us?"

"We'll need to rendezvous with Earth, but with what we have, I don't see why we couldn't help you." Keyes assured their newfound allies.

"Then we must see what you can do. My forces are planning on attacking a major Separatist factory and manufacturing world in the Outer Rim. Perhaps you can join the attack?" Koon offered,

"You help us, and we will help you in any way we can." Chief smoothly. Keyes nodded in agreement.

"Good. Prepare whatever forces you have, we leave tomorrow."

 **CAS-assault carrier,** _ **Divine Embrace**_

Koso had rarely been inside a massive carrier their massive size had intimidated him to an extent, he had seen them tear apart fleets and dwarf everything around them, and now he was commanding them.

Majestic and deadly, the assault carriers were massive tools of war that Koso couldn't wait to use on his enemies.

"I wonder how many vessels I will tear apart with this." Koso rubbed the side of his command chair as he turned to sit.

"Our course, sir?" A major bowed to the newly made Commander.

"I want two battlecruisers to remain here as well as a pair of frigates. As for the rest of us, I have made a list of planets we must visit, courtesy of Poggle the lesser. There are many races that will be of use for our Covenant." Koso typed in a set of numbers into his side console, then placed his hands together and leaned back as the fleet mobilized. "Prepare to jump to these coordinates. This world is the beginning of our conquest."

"As you wish Commander." The major stood straight up and relayed the orders to the rest of the crew that worked on the deck. Within mere minutes the coordinates were set and locked for each ship that was to travel, everyone inside the fleet had blood boiling for action.

 _May the humans burn in the name of the gods, for we, I, am their instrument of destruction._ If one was to look into Koso's eyes, they could see all the terror and evil that rested inside him. The ships entered their slipspace portals quickly, leaving the small group of ships, and Geonosis, behind.

 _Let nothing survive our wrath._

 **Again, please leave reviews, they're always nice to have and help me write more and more!**

 **Next time, the problem just got a whole lot bigger.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Again, I'm happy with the positive reviews you all have generously given me, which is always a good morale booster.**

 **Outer Rim Territories**

 **Venator Star Destroyer,** _ **The Concordance**_

Captain Keyes stood in full uniform, including his hat, wanting to look his best during this 'test' of the UNSC's capabilities against the Republic's enemies. He stood straight, with pride and gratitude, similar to when he received the _Pillar Of Autumn_ , which detonated on Geonosis, as well as the frigate _Divider_. As far as he knew, the explosions crippled whatever factories and tunnels that were nearby.

Keyes was more than happy to lend any support he could, especially with all the help the Republic was willing to support in the fight against the Covenant Empire. With the reports his troops gave him on the Separatist forces they engaged on Geonosis, the UNSC was grateful to face an enemy that didn't have any massive advantage over them.

The Republic sent a standard battle group that consisted of three Venator star destroyers, which were full of the rest of the able body UNSC forces that weren't in the medical station, as well as Plo Koon's clone battalion.

The fleet arrived and was ready to engage a small Separatist defense fleet consisting of four frigates and two control ships over an unnamed world in the Outer Rim, a perfect place to start an accurate fight.

"Alright, begin the attack." Plo held his hands behind his back, watching the Separatist fleet move in to face the Republic force.

"You spoke about your skills before. I trust that you can lead this battle?" Plo asked Keyes, who nodded in return.

"Of course, you won't be disappointed." Keyes responded with a small smile. Keyes stood straighter as Plo took a step back, signifying the change of temporary command. "Listen up! I want fighter squadrons to surround the incoming fighters, divert more power to our weapons, ready turbolasers to concentrate fire on the leading enemy ships, then we can focus on the control ships once the field is clear."

The crew went to work quickly, relaying orders to fighter pilots and the men in charge of the turbolaser turrets.

Mixed flight squadrons consisting of the longswords taken from the _Pillar of Autumn_ and the _Divider_ as well as Republic ARC-170's went to engage the swarm of Vulture droids. The two human fighter types started well, in fact, due to usually fighting shielded fighters, the longswords went overkill on many the Vulture droids.

The longsword fighters were big targets for the Vultures, who seemed more interested in attacking them than the ARC's, but one by one, the droid fighters were shot into oblivion from blaster turrets and autocannons.

A longsword fired off its cannons fast, destroying a pair of Hyena bombers right in front of the viewpoint, creating a massive flash of metal and fire that temporarily blinded Keyes from the battle.

"Sir!" A clone lieutenant gave a salute to the Captain. "Fighters have made a clear path towards the leading frigate, shall we send bombers?"

"Yes, send longsword bomber squad Charlie and some Y-wings to attack, and make sure some ARC's escort them. Once the ship is taken out, have them launch a Nuclear mine over the center frigate, then we shall move into a closer range to increase our firepower efficiency." Keyes quickly replied, then returned his attention to the fight. The clone nodded, and returned to his post.

Charlie squad flew over the frigate, avoiding turbolaser fire and dropped a salvo of explosives that caused the shield to give out and were ultimately disabled by the Y-wing bombers.

The longswords readied their explosives as they flew over the now destroyed ship and flew over the center frigate. The mine was launched as soon as the longswords had the chance, the powerful anti ship explosive finished off the shields, and blew the ship apart, the nuclear fission-fusion reaction caused powerful EMP effects that reached several fighters and the other already damaged frigate, causing its systems to fail and the ship drifted aimlessly. It's interior fell apart and the ship practically tore in half.

With it's shields out, the Venators gutted the frigate quickly with severe turbolaser fire. The fighters mopped up the rest of the enemy fighters as the fleet moved in to face the control ships.

Debris and chunks of the ships were left to aimlessly wander, until they were eventually pulled into the planet from its gravity.

 _If only we had these kind of ships in the war with the Covenant._ Keyes thought as he saw the raw power the Venators possesed. _Maybe we could have saved Reach, if only we just had ships like these._

"Now," Keyes turned to several bridge officers, "move the _Concordance_ towards the surface of the planet, let our other ships overwhelm the command ships and assist us afterwards."

The _Concordance_ flew over the terrestrial world. The viewpoint revealed the world was covered in a largely deciduous surface with few lakes and rivers, as well as a large factory in the center. The factory ranged for kilometers over the surface, smoke spilled out of one of the massive poles that sprout of the factory.

Defense turrets fired at the Venator with determination, stressing the shields and forced it to fly overhead, trying to avoid the turret fire.

"Get us out of the defense turrets' range, move back into orbit in case of enemy reinforcements and get our boys down on the surface." Keyes shouted as the shields were noticeably falling fast from the attack. "I want pelicans and LAAT's to deploy troops about a kilometer from the factory's perimeter."

"Well done Mr. Keyes, I am confident that you can handle control of the space above us, I will join our men in the attack." Plo walked from the deck in a smooth fashion, leaving a smiling Keyes alone with the clone officers and crewmen.

 **Ryloth, Outer Rim**

"Incoming!" A clone shouted as he dove for cover from another heavy ball of plasma that flew from the mortar of one of the wraiths that had been pounding their defenses. The plasma melted an approaching AT-TE's front into itself, killing the driver and stopping it in it's slow assault.

"Kriffing hell man, we just secured this planet from the Seppies!" A clone practically cried as he hid behind the wreckage of an AT-TE, which was partially melted from all the plasma fire. The clones were bewildered by this powerful, alien force that came from nowhere and immediately attacked them all over the planet. This group was one of the last standing, and were doubtful on how long they could last against the large force.

"Hold the line men!" Their Jedi general, by the name of Mace Windu, ordered as his second in command, commander Ponds, rolled up to his position in an AT-RT. Mace had to stay behind cover to stay away from the dangerous artillery and snipers the enemy possesed. But he would usually throw whatever he could at the large force, their scout vehicles, rocks and hunks of metal, but his efforts barely slowed them down.

"General, our troops can't hold this line much longer. All that stands now is half a battalion and a dozen walkers, everything else is now a line of death and destruction." Ponds took off his helmet for the first time in two days, a sorrowful look. He looked across the battlefield, what remained of their forces had been cornered into a narrow bunker, unable to retreat with any of their large vehicles.

"Our priority is clear, our only option is to hold this line, otherwise, who knows what they'll do to the Twi'leks." Mace quickly activated his lightsaber, blocking a shot from a carbine. "The rebels will keep their people far from the attacks, it's our job to keep these aliens back and wait for reinforcements."

"Sniper!" A clone yelled, right as one of his brothers was hit in the arm by a large crystal needle, giving him immense pain. Clone marksmen retaliated and killed the jackal after a couple shots came from the clone's blaster rifles and tagged the sniper right in the chest. Other jackals tried to kill the clone's that were partially exposed, but the skilled troopers quickly adapted to their strategy, and kept their heads down.

"The rebels can't help us, we're outgunned, outnumbered, and we're being jammed." Ponds shook his head. "I doubt the Republic even knows we're in trouble."

A pair of banshees flew overhead, attempting to open fire on the troopers, only to be shot at by multiple rocket launchers, which tore the nimble aircraft apart in balls of fire. The two opposing lines exchanged fierce firepower, pounding each other's armor, with no sign of any faction giving in. Plasma scorches and bodies littered the battlefield, and the cries of pain and loss filled the very air.

Balls of plasma rained on the line again, originating from a few Wraiths and half a dozen Specters.

Behind the Republic line, a certain Twi'lek leader rode up to the Jedi. With a blaster in hand, Syndulla stopped as he saw numerous balls of plasma bombarded their line.

"Master Jedi, I regret to inform you that the situation has gotten worse. The platoon you had stationed with my people at the capital are currently being attacked by these aliens. Morale is low." The Twi'lek said regretfully.

"Our forces can't repel the attacks, but I can't ask your people to fight back another invasion." Mace responded quickly, looking across the jagged line of defense.

"It's not just that, according to my scouts, these aliens have been capturing thousands of us all over, they don't plan on killing us it seems." Syndulla laid his hand on the Jedi's shoulder. "Get your men into the mountains or the caves, they seem to be interested in killing you, but not my people."

Mace took a deep breath as he could feel all the death and destruction around him, then turned to his second in command. "Commander, call for a retreat, head into the mountains and cover our backs."

The clones around him nodded, saying nothing as the order was repeated along the line of defense, and started to evacuate the troops that weren't needed to run any of the turrets and rockets to hold off the advancing Wraiths, Specters, and Prowlers that were now attacking fiercer than before.

Clones grabbed what munitions and supplies they could, and started to run, the troopers at the defense line fires off their last rockets and activated the few auto-turrets they had left.

With the force, Windu lifted the detached leg of an AT-TE, it's metal creaked and wanted to break apart. And as a pair of Specters close in for kills, he pushed the leg into the two Specters, crushing them and killing the elites inside.

Banshees and Phantoms flew overhead, followed by Spirit dropships, all raining plasma around the canyon. The Phantoms and Spirits deployed grunts and Jackals to try and flank the clone forces from various positions.

The canyon had a dozen paths that led into the rocky hills and mountains, giving the clones the chance to escape from the Covenant forces. Several Twi'leks fired upon the Covenant troops from atop the cliffs and rocky edges that overlooked the canyon. A grunt took a hit to the head, his green methane leaking into the atmosphere.

"Come on Jedi!" A blue skinned Twi'lek waved at Mace and Ponds, signaling them to head towards him.

Plasma fire flew past the clones and Jedi, barely missing them and the retreating Twi'leks. With the Republic forces out of sight, the grunts gladly gave up and searched the wrecked tanks and bodies as the rest of the Covenant troops tried to converge on the escaping enemies, until an elite officer barked orders and they stopped their advance.

"Get your shebs moving troopers!" Ponds yelled, and what remained of their force was now out of sight.

Mace clenched his teeth together, as he could clearly hear the cries of pain and agony from the clones that simply couldn't fall back in time.

 **Outer Rim Territories**

 **Unnamed Separatist planet**

The Pelican soared across the skies and lowered into the jungle beneath, followed by several LAAT's and other Pelicans. Their landing 'pushed' back various bushes and trees and troops jumped out quickly, all having guns aimed towards the treeline, as if they were expecting an ambush of sorts.

The well trained Marines and Clone troopers had gone through drops like this too many times to count, and went to find cover, scan for enemies, and load off needed gear as fast as they humanly could.

The MasterChief was one of the last to jump out of Echo-419's Pelican, and scanned the area with his radar and built in proximity and heat scanners right as the Pelicans took off. The troops established a small encampment in a matter of seconds, deploying stationary turrets, barricades, and opened ammo boxes.

Jedi Master Plo Koon took a deep breath as he felt into the force, searching for any signs of danger, and to his relief, he found none.

"What do we know about this factory?" Johnson asked Commander Wolffe, who stood by his Jedi General. The two and others stood by a holotable that was just finished being set up.

"Well," The holotable finally activated, revealing a detailed layout of the area. "We're here." A blue light flashed over a small area in the forest. "And the factory is here." A red light flashed over the factory. "We know there are numerous defense turrets, several legions of droids, and thousands of weapons being built. If we take this factory out, it could cost the Seppies millions of credits and lose their presence in this area."

"Hmm, well, we fought these guys back on Geo-whatamacallit, they aren't very bright." Johnson concluded, looking at the map almost impatiently.

"True, we could try to distract them." Corporal Allison walked up the group, joining the conversation. "I wouldn't doubt they would try and track us down. I know a few Lotus mines that would love to kill off some tin cans."

"All we would need is a distraction, and someone could get inside the complex, disable the turrets, or just blow the thing to kingdom come!" Johnson coughed, punching his chest in an effort to cough out whatever was building up in his throat. Johnson knew his abundant use of cigars would kill him one day, but he always figured he'd die from some elite before the cigars took any noticeable effect on his body.

Marines were already at work, unpacking a half dozen Lotus mines and other various explosives to rig. Clones readied other various explosives, and talked amongst the marines. Ace walked quietly, looking over the marines and clones to make sure they were being as fast as they should be. But he mostly did it to past time, as he was a bit anxious to take on an enemy less powerful than the Covenant for once.

"Come on Andy." A marine patted the side of the Lotus mine as he readied it. The marine caught Ace's attention.

"Andy?" Ace asked, confused by the Marine's weird 'conversation' with the explosive. "Private, did you call the bomb Andy?"

"Uh, yeah?" The marine swallowed his saliva. He walked back a few steps, then jogged to a pair of arguing marines. Ace shook his head with a smirk. So many younger marines had been shoved into the front lines this late in the war, it was no wonder some of them still had some childish traits left hidden behind the scars.

Ace continued his silent 'patrol' around the area. In reality, he wished he was back with his friend Red, the two grew close together, practically becoming brothers. It was always good to talk with a more experience soldier, one he could relate some experiences too. He shrugged off the thoughts and kept walking forward. One foot in front of the other.

In the bushes behind them, a lone probe droid waited in absolute silence, remaining in a stealthy state. The droid had been recording the new arrivals for a little over a minute, and was almost ready to depart. A small, barely noticeable noise from behind. A small _crack_ of a stick alerted the droid, and turned quickly.

Only to meet 'face' to face with a large, dark green armored humanoid.

The probe droid tried to escape, but it's leg was grabbed extremely fast by the MasterChief, who easily pulled it under his boot and crushed it.

"Nice one Chief, although i've analyzed three other scenarios to which you wouldn't have been noticed." Cortana scanned the probe, information popped up on the Chief's HUD. "Hmm, thankfully, this thing only transmitted a small fragment of footage."

"Could we still work this into our favor?" Chief asked, throwing the crushed droid over the bushes and into the clearing where the base camp was established. He walked out and saw everyone staring at the scene. Marines were nearly finished positioning radar and scanning gear around the base, and went back to their work.

"Most definitely. They'll probably send a small force, test our abilities and then launch another attack." Cortana concluded after going through the data she had on their current enemies. "We could easily set a trap."

"Chief?" Allison ran up and examined the damaged droid, who was followed by Wolffe and Plo Koon. "The hell is this?"

Sparks flew from the droid, its red 'eye' cracked and practically fried. Its body was severely damaged from the heavy stomp it received from the MasterChief.

"A probe droid." Wolffe kicked the small machine. "Clankers know we're here now."

"Excellent work, MasterChief." Plo Koon scanned the area with the force again, seeing if anything else was trying to creep on them. "They know our exact location now, we need to act quickly and prepared defenses and set up some sort of ambush."

"Agreed." Cortana said through Chief's helmet. "We should send a small team inside the complex while we distract as much of the droids as we can."

"I'll send scouts to check out the area. When they return, we can began our plan." Wolffe saluted to his Jedi General, who nodded in return, and Wolffe ran to a pair of ARF troopers that had been sitting by several crates, and gave them orders about their next assignment.

"We'll send a small force towards the factory, their droids will follow as we make a retreat through the forests, and lead them where we want them." Cortana stated.

"An excellent plan, miss. While that stage is carried out your MasterChief and I will sneak inside with a few troopers, we should be able to get in and out swiftly." Plo Koon said to the AI.

 **Orbit of Ryloth**

 **CAS-assault carrier,** _ **Resplendent Fervor**_

 **Head of the Third Fleet of Glorious Consequence**

The Third Fleet of Glorious Consequence stood above the destroyed Republic ships proudly. With the loss of merely a single Battlecruiser, the fleet had scored a small victory in space against a small Republic fleet, and their Commander, Luro 'Taralumee, was pleased by their efficient results.

The fleet now stood at thirteen ships, twelve of which were battlecruisers while the flagship being his assault carrier.

The Supreme Commander sat in his command chair in deep thought. He held his hands together as he listened to his Major give him a report on the ongoing task.

"Resistance is fierce, but small, Commander." The Major held a data pad, which contained information from ground commanders. "We've captured thousands of the natives, our forces are setting up labor camps and bases across the world as we speak. This planet is ours."

"Good, this will be a suitable planet for resources and labor, glory to clan and kin, Major." The Commander waved his hand, and the Major left him.

He had listened to reports of the new human force they encountered, tales of beings possessing magical abilities and ships that didn't travel using slipspace, all these things boggled his mind. But he didn't let that distract him from his work.

On the left side of his command chair, a small console lit up with a flashing blue light. Luro tapped several commands and a hologram of the newly appointed Commander Koso 'Radumee stood in front of him.

"Greetings Commander Luro." Koso started off smoothly, and calm. "I hear you've scored yet another victory, and better yet, have discovered a possible candidate for our Covenant. Am I correct?" Koso tilted his head to the side, hs mandibles clicked together once, twice.

"Indeed." Luro hated answering to someone he considered beneath him. Even if they had the same rank. He respected Thel 'Vadamee, yes, as well as the Admiral, but he had little to no respect for anyone else, no matter what rank they were. "But these creatures are weak and aren't in the numbers necessary to be of much use in combat. I am currently forcing them to work to provide us with raw materials and agricultural resources. I made plans to place an Unggoy breeding facility so that our numbers would increase as well."

"A wise move." Koso paused. "Have you heard the news from the Hierarchs? I am in full command of anyone in this portion of the galaxy, and that, includes you."

Luro snorted in disgust, he was willing to insult the young commander, but feared his very head would be removed by the Prophets themselves if he did so. For now, he would have to listen.

"Did you come to gloat? Or do you have any other purpose to be in my sight?" Luro said, keeping back a noticeable hint of anger.

"Gloat to be sure, but I have more important things to discuss. More and more fleets have been arriving in this part of the galaxy, and they don't have the knowledge I do, be sure to send drones across the nearby systems and see if any of our brethren are close. I've been gathering information on this, Republic, as they call themselves. They are much more powerful than the previous humans we have been fighting. I'll need all the ships I can muster to fully execute my plans on several worlds." Koso made what would be the Sangheili version of a grin. "Would you be so kind as to 'donate' some?"

"Do you not know I have a mere thirteen vessels? I can't just lend any of them to you!" Luro barked at Koso, slamming his fist on the right side of his chair.

"A few battlecruisers should be enough," Koso continued, as of Luro hadn't even spoken against him. "I appreciate your cooperation."

"You foolish little-"

"I will speak more to you another time, I must go." Koso cut him off, and continued speaking to the obviously angered Commander. "Be sure to send some cruisers to Geonosis, as well as another report on your efforts. May the gods be with you."

The hologram shut off, leaving Luro in a state of anger. He had just been questioned and treated as if he was an inferior Commander. Clenching his fists together, Luro imagined cutting Koso in two with his own energy sword. A thought that comforted him greatly.

"That fool will either die by the humans or my own hand." Luro muttered to himself. "I pray the gods give me such a blessing."

 **Outer Rim Territories**

 **Unnamed Separatist world**

The clanking of a hundred battle droids could be heard across the area. Not careful to search the entire area. They had a job to do, and the enemy was reported to be less than a kilometer from the factory. B1's marched forward, followed by a pair of AAT's which were accompanied by a few B2 battle droids.

They were given simple orders, kill the enemy.

"I think I see them!" A B1 shouted. "They're hiding in between the trees!"

"Roger, roger." The droids all simultaneously replied, and began to aimlessly open fire into the bushes and trees.

A rocket flew out from a bush, slamming into the side of an AAT and killed several droids around it. Marines and clone troopers opened fire from all directions, tossing grenades and tearing apart dozens of droids.

Another wave of droids started to advance, with the same composition as the first one. Seeing this, the Marines and clones began to fall back, shooting a couple droids as they fled, but not too fast. The droids were now in pursuit, thinking they could simply hunt down them and finish them off.

Unbeknownst to the droids, a figure ran faster than comprehension across the field and into the building they droids exited from. The tall, armored being held open a door just in time for a Jedi and a pair of clones to enter, then the MasterChief let the door close behind them.

The droids began to reach a clearer path in the forest, but were confused on where the enemy had gone. Droids spread out into the bushes and shrubbery.

A B1 walked over until he hit something with his foot. "What the?" The droid was confused and picked up some beeping, circular device. On the side, the device had strange markings that the droid couldn't understand.

"Find anything?" A B1 commander yelled from his AAT.

"This thing is weird, its flashing some red dot and it seems to have some kind of label!" The B1 yelled back, and kept staring at the strange object.

Another B1 walked up, scratching the top of his head. The beeping of the light seemed to have gone faster, as if it were counting down to something. It took several seconds for the droids to realize what it was.

"Oh nooo-aaaaaahhh!" The droid yelled as the Lotus mine, dubbed as 'Andy', exploded in front of them. The blast killed a dozen droids and seemed to have set off other explosions, tearing apart the very jungle around the droids.

"Woohoo! Good job Andy!" A marine yelled with glee, and opened fire on the confused droids with his assault rifle.

Marines and clones alike hopped from bushes and shot as many droids as they could before running back farther and farther to their camp. The droids continued on, even with its losses, they had already prepared another platoon of droids to reinforce them.

"Let's hope the Chief and them made it in easy enough." Allison remarked as she dove for cover to avoid blaster fire. Ace had been near her the whole time, making sure she would live through this. Unlike himself, she had a family to still go back to.

"Get your asses moving!" Ace yelled, pulling out a frag grenade, pulled the pin with his teeth, and chucked it into a pair of B2's, killing them both easily. "I'm sure they'll be fine, we have got to focus on this right now."

"Go, go, go!" Johnson shouted to the men behind him. A clone took a hit to the leg, although it wasn't serious, the clone clearly couldn't move fast enough to not get hit again. Johnson quickly grabbed the clone, and practically dragged him away from the attacking droids.

 **Republic Medical Station**

 **Naboo System**

Inside a bacta tank, stood a rather tall, muscular woman, who looked rather well for her age. Her eyes opened wide as she regained consciousness. All she could see was some liquid around her, a mask over her mouth, which allowed her to breath.

 _Reach! The Covenant! Where?_ She couldn't speak with the tubed mask over her, so she tried to remember her last thoughts before she woke up, her first attempts gave her a migraine.

She remembered Reach, the military world she had trained on and defended. She recalled random words like Autumn, Cortana, and invasion. Had the Covenant found Reach? Her head ached as she tried to remember. She recalled Covenant ships, her memories became clearer on what happened. Once she finally had a clear memory, images of Covenant ships attacking, a hundred human vessels destroyed, the Covenant appearing over Reach, her eyes widened again.

She looked around frantically, wondering if the Covenant somehow captured her. A painful memory popped up in her mind, being shot repeatedly by Elites and Jackals. Her shields were down, her armor barely holding back the balls of plasma, but failed. She remembered seeing blackness, a light, as if something was there. And now she was here.

An alarm came alive around her, she began to freak out over terrible thoughts that crossed her mind. The Covenant never took prisoners, but if they did, who knows what they would do; and she didn't want to find out. She gave herself an objective, escape. Only then would she find out where she was.

Punching on the glass, she shattered the barrier with a mere three punches. She noted she was still in a weakened state as the liquid around her rushed past her body, taking her with the wave.

She pulled the tubed mask off, and coughed twice. Taking heavy breaths, the alarm continued to roar as she heard a door swish behind her.

She turned quickly, and saw a strange looking, _alien_ creature. Pale white skinned, with some type of white and greyish suit. Two big eyes, and most noticeably, a very long neck. It reminded her of giraffes she would see in videos of lions hunting she saw when she was young.

"How did you-" Linda rushed forward, grabbing the feeble creature by the neck, and slowly choked it. The aliens skinny arms grabbed her muscular arm, but didn't have the strength to pry Linda's arm away.

"Linda!" A human voice shouted. She turned to see a marine with a bandage over his left eye. His hands held up as he walked up to her "Spartan stand down! She's an ally!"

Linda took several breaths. She nodded, and let the alien go. The kaminoan held her hands by her neck, gasping for air and back away from the Spartan. Two other marines, and some darker skinned man wearing white armor appeared by the door. "Marine? What happened? Where are we?"

"Just, come down." The marine took a deep breath, he lowered his hands and kept walking towards her. "We can explain, but, it's a long story."

 **Next time, Demons, Brutes, and droids, Oh my!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello there everyone, welcome back to another chapter of Chronicles of War!**

 **Ya'll seemed pretty happy with the last chapter, except for that guest, but I hope you will enjoy this one too!**

 **Chapter 10**

A pair of B1 battle droids casually walked through the hall without much of any care. The two past a small storage room, not worrying whether they should search it or not. And they moved on.

The room's door opened swiftly, unnoticeable to the droids. A large head encased in dark green, MJOLNIR armor, looked around, and walked out slowly. Carrying a battle rifle, Chief lead the small group, followed by Jedi Plo Koon, and two troopers from the room.

The hall's were usually clear, other than the occasional security team, it was easy for the MasterChief to sneak around the base. With the their troops distracting the droid forces, there were much fewer droids securing the halls and rooms of the factory.

"I've hacked the Separatists battlenet as well as some of the base's systems. The battle is going well enough for us, only a few casualties but the droids are right on them." Cortana said quietly from the Chief's helmet.

"We should get going then," Plo kept his saber in hand, ready for anything. "Cortana, have you been able to detect a control room of some kind?"

"Of course I have," She responded in a friendly manner, "I set up a NAV point in Chief's HUD, there's an elevator close by, the control room is below us, he'll lead the way."

Plo nodded and kept himself by Chief's side. The four ran fast, keeping their bodies lower to the ground so they wouldn't be seen as quickly. The four soon reached a door, Chief stood by it closely, staring at the door. The MasterChief pulled out his titanium knife, waited a moment as the door opened, and like a crack of lightning, struck the leading droid in the head. The large knife easily cut into the cheaper droid metal, and was now dead.

The second droid was too slow to react, and was easily shot down by a clone trooper. Chief put away his knife, and kept the door open. The elevator was now empty and free of droids.

"Impressive, the tale's of your skill do not give you enough credit on your speed. Even many Jedi could never reach that speed, I am glad you are on our side." Koon walked into the elevator. "Now let's go."

Chief nodded, saying nothing, and followed in. Thankfully for them all, the elevator was built to carry large weight, most likely heavy storage. So the Chief's massive weight wouldn't crash them when the elevator activated.

It took a few mere seconds to arrive on the second floor down, and everyone had weapons drawn and ready for anything. The door opened, revealing a pair of surprised droids that couldn't hope to react fast enough to the four, and were immediately gunned down.

The room was full of complex computer systems, large computers and entire walls of electronics that made a hundred different sounds. Glass windows covered the front where the biggest keypads stood, showing off a massive room outside the control room. Large containers were stacked along the walls of the right, while the left held a large, droid constructing complex that stretched for yards across. Sparks flew from some of the rapidly moving arms that attached limbs and basic parts to the developing droids.

"Commando droids." A clone muttered. "I was wondering why there were so many lately. This must be where they've been making them."

"Commando?" Chief looked around for a console he could put Cortana into, and was glad when he finally found one. He plugged Cortana in, and her body lit up on a holographic projector next to it.

"I see, these droids are being built here in large mass. Something about various infiltration plans on several outposts. There are all sorts of plans here. These guys aren't too tight on electronic security are they?" Cortana analyzed several data packets in front of her.

"This is important information. We must get it to the Republic immediately. Keep searching, see what else you can find." Plo Koon searched the computers as well, searching the factory's manifest systems.

"Roger." Cortana replied. "I'm shutting down several systems of the base, but we can blow this place sky high, destroy everything here."

Suddenly, the door behind them opened up, revealing two B2 battle droids that immediately opened fire. Red bolts missed passed their targets and hit the glass behind the group, shattering the glass easily. Plo Koon force pushed the two B2's back into the elevator, then used the force to close the elevator door and activated it, sending the two droids back up to the first floor.

"They know of our location, do we have all we need?" Plo Koon asked Cortana, keeping his saber ready in hand.

"Just another moment, I'm accessing files on other bases like this." She replied.

Chief aimed his rifle at the door, ready for anything that could come their way, until he noticed several dozen small dots on his motion tracker. Koon seemed to notice the same thing Chief did, and the two turned around to see several commando droids climbing up to the room, the first one grabbed the side of the glass window rail, crunching the remaining glass with its metal hand.

Two droids flipped inside, each pulling out a sword and tried to cut at Koon, only to be cut in pieces by the Jedi's saber.

"Pull me." Cortana said to the Chief, who fired off his battle rifle multiple times, killing several droids fast. Chief grabbed Cortana's metal chip from the computer and back into his helmet. Chief backed up, the droids grouping in by the dozens. Some carried blasters while others carried short swords, and all rushed to attack.

A commando jumped off the side of the wall and lunged onto Chief, who grabbed both the droids arms and used the droid as a weapon, tossing it around like a ragdoll into another commando.

The clones opened the elevator door, and fired their blasters into the droids that occupied it. A clone tossed a thermal detonator into the mass of droids, but surprisingly, one of them snatched it from the air, tossing it back in a front flip. Chief smacked the detonator away, his shields taking the damage when it exploded, and shattered three droids away.

Plo Koon force pushed several of the droids back, slowing down the advancing horde so they could all fit inside the elevator.

The elevator went up as fast as it could, and the _THUD THUD THUD_ echoed inside the elevator shaft, and they quickly figured the commando droids had been trying to climb up after them.

"Alright, all hell is going to be loose soon, the factory is on high alert." Cortana went over the data packets she took before Chief pulled her from the systems until the elevator door finally opened. "Reports from Sergeant Johnson say more droids have been deployed from here, but they have everything handled. We need to head to the defense turrets located several corridors away."

"Where exactly is that?" Chief asked, watching their backs as they walked out of the elevator. Plo Koon used the force to activate the elevator again, sending it back down to the incoming commando droids.

"Head to your right, then make a left turn." She replied quickly.

The group followed her directions, going through several corridors, Cortana guided them throughout the base until they found a secured door. Two droids guarded the door, but could barely raise their weapons before being shot by the clones.

"This door is sealed tight, and there's no console to unlock it from the outside." Cortana said as Chief walked up to the door, searching it top to bottom for anything they could use to open the door.

"I'll take it from here my friend." Plo placed his hand on Chief's armored shoulder, and the soldier took a step to the side. Koon took his saber and stabbed it into the wall, and slowly began to cut a large square from out the door. The metal sides turned bright orange and slid off from the door, leaving the gaping hole they could easily walk into.

Plo stepped in first, saber up and ready for the droids that had been standing by the door. Chief ran through fast, smacking a B1 away before charging a B2, that also fell quickly to the Chief's rapid attacks.

Plo Koon and the clones finished off what remained, and stood by the door for anything that could be sent their way. Chief looked at the screens before him, all showing green outlines of large turrets that defended the factory.

The group soon heard the familiar sound of marching droids, dozens of footsteps repeated a perfect march, all aimed for their location.

"We need to move, now!" Chief stared at the consoles under the screens, until he found a suitable terminal and plugged Cortana in. Her image popped up on a holographic display. The screens were green, with the outlines of the dozen defense turrets on them. Alien writing littered a small box under each screen, but the screens were soon changed to red, and an alarm went off right after.

The marching grew louder, and the long shadow of a column of battle droids became present along the walls outside the room.

"I've set these turrets to full power, and I'm aiming them at each other. When a timer goes off the combined explosions should shatter this side of the factory, any fuel sources would react violently, more explosions would occur all over."

"How long do we have?" A clone asked anxiously.

"A few minutes starting now, I'll place the timer on the Chief's HUD." She replied, right before Chief pulled out her chip from the terminal.

"Alright, let's go." Chief pulled out a fragmentation grenade, tossing it up and down in his hand, and readied the pin to be pulled.

As the group rushed out, Chief tossed his grenade into the firing line of droids, killing two of them and knocking over another. The two clones fired onto the line as they retreated away, Plo managing to block off most of the shots fired back to them, and Chief also shot at the advancing line of droids.

"I did some reading on the layout of this base, our exit should be close by." Cortana said, setting up a NAV point on Chief's HUD for him to follow.

"Excellent. I like your thinking Miss." Plo complimented Cortana, stopping to block the last red bolt that got close to them before they made their way into a separate corridor to their right.

"We made it past them, hurry before more guards come after us!" Cortana exclaimed.

A pair of droideka's rolled from an unseen position, but Chief was quick to fire upon them before they could activate their bubble shields. He fired several rounds from his battle rifle, cutting through the cheap droid metal and disabling them.

Chief reloaded with a fresh clip before continuing on. The group ran forward, not stopping for anything short of being shot at.

"Vehicle bay up ahead!" The NAV point made an arrow that pointed to an open vehicle bay full of speeder bikes Chief had once briefly seen on Geonosis.

"Hurry!" Cortana shouted, everyone could hear her as they frantically hopped on and activated four speeder bikes.

"What about the door?" A trooper asked as he grew nervous of the possible death he could experience soon.

Plo Koon quickly used the force to activate the door, a trick he had become quite good at and proved useful on their mission. Droids desperately tried to catch up, but proved to be too slow and were simply outran. The door slowly opened, revealing a vehicle depot, with four speeders and a tank. Chief chose the speeder, and realized its controls were relatively simple, and didn't have time to waste trying to figure out the tank's controls. They blasted the hangar bay open with the speeder's blaster cannons, opening a hole for them to fit under and rode on.

When the timer on Chief's HUD reached zero, explosions shook the ground behind them, waves of flame overtook the front of the base, and the factory began to collapse in on itself. The turrets blew apart quickly, an explosion even sending one of the cannon tube's far into the forest away.

"Mission success. Sergeant Johnson, what's your sitrep?" Cortana radioed for the Sergeant as soon as they entered the forest.

"Alive and waiting ma'am. The tin cans didn't stand a chance." He answered quickly.

"Good, cause we have more bases to locate." A Venator slowly descended into the valley below, ready to pick up the marines and clones. Droid parts and bullet cases littered the ground, a single bent over tree caught fire and smoke, but was put by the large gush of wind from the landing Venator.

 **Ryloth, Outer Rim Territories**

Master Mace Windu had his eyes closed tightly, breathing through his nostrils slowly. Behind him, a single brute poorly attempted to sneak up on the Jedi master. Mace turned his head slightly when the large creature stepped on a small branch, cracking it under his foot.

The brute charged forward, hoping to catch Mace off guard. The Jedi master turned quickly, determined to face the threat.

Mace duck from a swing from the hairy alien. The creature was as tall as a wookie, but much wider and clearly possessed much more strength. The Jedi leaped over the berserked beast, trying to avoid its massive arms.

The creature had been following him for some time when Mace was scouting ahead, until Mace had lured it to a steep cliff so he could attempt to capture it. A plan he realized couldn't work. The alien brute was enraged at Mace and tried to attack him with his bare hands after Mace had kicked his gun away a moment ago.

The alien ran towards Mace in pure anger, snarling and jumping off a rock to try and land on him. Mace easily sidestepped and tripped the creature over. The brute turned back to attack but was pushed away further. Even with his incredible strength in the force, Mace had some trouble keeping the brute at bay. The alien seemed keen on just getting to Mace, who didn't want to think of what the creatures intentions would be.

But Mace was determined, he wasn't going to let some alien tear him apart. Mace closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and reached out in the force. The brute snarled at the smaller man, but realized he could barely struggle against the powerful Jedi, his body began to float into the air. Mace lifted the creature higher, then slammed the brute to the ground hard. The once loud and aggressive creature now unconscious.

A dozen clone troopers started to climb from bushes and out from behind rocks at different times, as they had all returned from their assignments.

"Sir! Are you alright?" The clone commander asked his Jedi General.

"Just taking care of a small patrol, they seem to be getting closer to our camp." He referred to what was essentially a hole in the wall of rock around him. It was good for cover, and hard to find by accident, the only place his troops could hide.

"General, our scouts have been monitoring the enemy movement like you asked, and one of them found something very interesting." Ponds saluted to the Jedi, then stood at ease.

"What did he find?" Mace crossed his arms.

"He was tracking the movement of several hundred Twi'leks when he saw a recently constructed tower of some kind. Possibly a communications tower."

"What's the enemy strength their?"

"Dozens of those big aliens with personal deflector shields, about a hundred of the bird creatures, six or seven of those big ape creatures, and several dozen of the smaller guys. They have several mortar tanks as well as a couple of those wheeled scout vehicles." Ponds shook his head. "We're outgunned and outnumbered."

"We'll need help then." Mace looked around to his last remaining troops. "Contact the rebels, if they can distract some of the alien troops away, we'd have a chance."

"They are already here, sir." Ponds turned to Syndulla, who had just appeared from behind a ledge with several other of his trusted rebel companions. Half a dozen Twi'leks walked towards the Jedi, three of which wandered to sniper positions in case of any Covenant that would come around. Syndulla approached Mace with a frown, his eyes were noticeably baggy from not sleeping well.

"Master Jedi, I've come to help." Syndulla stated plainly. "The best way to help my people is to strike now while we have strength. My people are being enslaved and I cannot bear the horrors I've been told had happened to them. We," he gestured to his men, "are with you. I already have mobilized what little forces I have. What do you have to say?"

Mace breathed deeply through his nose, and exhaled the same way before speaking. "I'm glad you are here. I have a plan."

 **Kamino, Kamino System**

Linda sat staring at the wall silently, marines and clones that stood around her had explained the passed events as best as they could for the Spartan. The room was just outside what she was told was a bacta room, where beings could be healed even after extreme injury, such as getting hit by plasma in the chest, like she had when her shields were down. Linda continued to ask questions and get slow responses from those around her.

"Then we jumped from Reach and into this part of the galaxy, thats when we met the Republic. We are actually in one of their medical stations." The marine known as Corporal Locklear gestured around as he finished, taking a breath after going over all the painful events that happened during and after Reach.

"Reach is gone?" Linda tried hard to swallow everything she had been told down. She gripped the sides of the bench she sat on tightly, leaving small, barely noticeable marks. "What about the others? Is Chief..." She couldn't finish the sentence, the mere thought of the MasterChief dying seemed utterly impossible to her.

"He's alive and kicking ass like normal. As far as we know, you two are the last Spartans." He bit his lip on the thought of the millions of soldiers lost at Reach. The marine shook his head in a sign of defeat, breathing heavily before looking back at Linda. She looked around cautiously, not fully trusting anything around her. Everything around her was either new or different, making her feel uncomfortable about the whole situation.

A Kaminoan walked into the room, followed the swish of the automatic door closing behind it. She was different from the Kaminoan Linda had choked before, which understandably didn't want to be around her at the time.

"Greetings, I am Goa Dri of Kamino." She spoke softly, almost like a robot in a way, with little emotion or energy behind it. "I trust you have healed fast yes?"

Linda nodded to the alien creature, still not sure how to class her as anything other than an ally. Even so, she remained cautious of her surroundings.

"Affirmative. I'd like to be able to see Captain Keyes or Sierra one one seven as soon as possible, if you don't mind." Linda stood up to try and match the height of the surprisingly tall creature.

"Of course, as soon as other tests are made to make sure you are fit for departure. May we be able to scan you for any possible infection in your bloodstream? I hear the plasma you were hit with was quite crude and dangerous." She seemed to try to assure Linda she was peaceful. Her dark eyes gave no hint of any emotion to Linda, making her unsure of its intentions.

"Its okay Linda." Locklear rested his hand on Linda's cold shoulder. "Just trust the doc alright?"

 **Ryloth, Outer Rim Territories**

Supreme Commander Luro 'Taralumee sat impatiently on the bridge command chair, his fingers tapping together to pass time.

He had sent two battlecruisers to Geonosis as instructed, as well as a copy of official plans he had for the people on Ryloth. Luro sent multiple battalions across the world, where they rounded up hundreds of thousands of Twi'leks and placed them in several labor camps. Stations and depots had been constructed on the planet below, where raw materials were being kept and ready to be used. Hundreds of Unggoy had been placed in a secure set of linked chambers for their breeding duties, as was customary on newly captured worlds. Because of the fast growth and maturity rate of Unggoy, a few months could provide thousands more soldiers for combat.

Now with a mere eleven ships, Luro suddenly felt a small sense of danger. Anticipation mixed with a lack of enemy contact had him slightly worried. The only real dangers were the few native fighters as well as some of the human forces stationed their. Small squads were lost from surprise skirmishes, but nothing noticeably important to the Commander.

His fleet held a solid formation, cruisers scattered around the northern hemisphere, all in a circle around the _Resplendent Fervor_ like sharks hovering over a whale carcass.

Luro had double checked everything was going as planned, his troops finished constructing the long range communications tower so they could communicate with fleets from several systems away.

He could only hope to prove his worth soon, and to not be passed by Koso.

"Commander!" A minor called from his station. "Another patrol unit has failed to report in."

"Where were they sent?" He asked with a hint of annoyance, having heard the same report of small patrol squads being killed or missing.

"They were patrolling the mountains several clicks away from the communications tower. Should we send another squad to search for them?"

"No." Luro growled. "If the enemy wants to face us, they will do so at the tower. Ready spec ops squads by it, let them come. They will only find their deaths."

"As you wish." The minor responded swiftly, fearing what the obviously unsteady Commander would say or do to whoever annoyed him.

Luro fell back into his thoughts, feeling slightly less concerned as one of his problems would soon be fixed.

Or so he thought.

 **Coruscant, Republic Capital**

 **Jedi Temple, Communications Center**

Every available Jedi Master had stood inside the room for several minutes. Most Jedi were out fighting the war, others trying to maintain peace in core worlds that were ready to erupt in conflict. The entire known galaxy was in a state of emergency, and even the most calm of the Jedi were worried.

Master Yoda stood by the famous Obi Wan Kenobi and his apprentice Anakin Skywalker, who had prepared a sort of display for the Jedi that had only recently heard of the new forces in play. Most were skeptical, some doubted the newcomers would pose a threat. But each one of them was curious above all other feelings.

"Masters." Anakin addressed the Jedi in the room calmly, keeping his hands held together behind his back. "I'm sure you are well aware of the news of new factions that we have made contact with. One is a friendly human race called the UNSC. From what we've gathered, they are an unfortunately less advanced race. Their ships lacking shields and resort to using mostly slug based weapons. For nearly thirty years, however, they bravely fought a superior faction called the Covenant."

Holographic images appeared on the table beside him. The _Pillar of Autumn_ being one of them, as it and the two frigates stood in front of the weak Republic fleet. Most faces looked skeptical, but some weren't very surprised that some humans made it into the unknown regions and back.

"These ships belonged to them, but were unfortunately destroyed when these ships came." He gestured to the new images of Covenant ships. "These aliens are called the Covenant. A collection of previously unknown species that had nearly wiped out the UNSC. Killing billions, and burning hundreds of worlds in the process." He took a breath before continuing. "They declared war against us, and the Geonosians have joined them, leaving the Separatists behind. We rescued hundreds of UNSC personnel from the world. Only barely escaping a massive fleet of Covenant."

The images changed to the retreating Republic fleet being fired upon by the powerful Covenant reinforcements. Every set of eyes in the room widened as the images of Covenant ships filled the table screen in front of them. Most if not every Jedi had been shocked by the sights of the strange, alien looking ships.

"The Covenant are very skilled." Obi Wan joined Anakin and continued. "Our engagements against them proved they can take on anyone we know of in the galaxy. Their ships are long ranged and strong, their fighters have personal shields, as well as a good defense turret system."

Obi Wan pressed another button on the side of the holotable. Images of many of the Covenant soldiers and vehicles appeared in a slide show fashion.

"Grunts are the weakest units, difficult in large groups and are willing to suicidally charge with explosives. Jackals are bird like creatures with good aim, almost as good as clones. Hunters are massive creatures with thick armor and a plasma cannon. I heard a pair once took on an entire AT-TE. And finally, their most skilled warriors, Elites."

The images changed to several holograms of Elite's of various ranks in combat. An ultra could be seen cutting open a clone with his energy sword, a major charging with dual plasma rifles, and a few minors leading grunts into an attack against several clone troopers. Eyes widened even more as the holographic images continued to play.

"They are called Elites for good reason. They have strong personal shields that can withstand some damage, and are completely fearless. I once dueled one on a Covenant ship, he was very skilled with his saber."

Murmurs and side conversations sparked among the large number, sharing their thoughts and feelings on the new information, until Yoda raised his hand in the air, and every Jedi immediately stopped to pay attention to the Grand Master. Yoda walked forward from his position beside Anakin and stood in front of them, using his trusty cane to keep him steady, for even his strength in the force couldn't hold back the power of time.

"Worried, we are, about the Covenant. Their actions, dark and horrible, they are. Stop their evil, we must." Yoda spoke up to the Jedi.

Obi Wan nodded to the Grand Master, and took a deep breath before he spoke again. " Which is why we are preparing. Word had been received recently from a civilian transport. They reported a large massacre of small ships and corvette sized vessels, all clues indicate they were attacked by Covenant forces. And Mace Windu's lack of response from Ryloth can't be a coincidence."

"What do you suggest we do?" Kit Fisto called from the back of the room, his arms crossed in concern.

"We ask of you to ready yourselves and your fleets. The war already has us hurt badly, but we must answer the call to restore peace. We're sending a fleet to Ryloth, and forming a large fleet in the Outer Rim territories, so we could divide our forces properly in case more of the Covenant start showing up in our galaxy. We must be ready, that is all." Obi Wan waved his hand slightly, and kept his hands held together again. He found it strange how many of the new Jedi Masters lacked as much experience and skills that most did before the war. _They seem to be getting younger and younger, too_. He shook his head tried not to think about how desperately the Jedi tried to keep stability in their order.

Heads nodded almost simultaneously before leaving, many held conversations about the almost shocking information. Some of the younger Jedi were contemplating how they would fare in battle against the 'elites' and their strange lightsabers, and hoped to face them in battle. Others were more worried about having to fight two wars at once, especially since the clone wars had already taken its toll on the galaxy.

But not one was truly prepared for what would soon come.

 **Next time, this Consecration is Sacred**


	11. Redemption

The barren wasteland hadn't teemed with indigenous life in nearly twenty years. The same years that passed since the planet's glassing, during the most painful conflict in recent centuries.

The conflict once started at two points, the Clone Wars, and the Human/Covenant war. But it soon became known as the Galactic War, as it stretched to every corner of, and even outside, the Galaxy. Simple, and will never be forgotten. The scars planets held would keep it in memory for millennia. No one seemed safe from the war, especially those who were defenseless, their lives were lost by the billions.

The planet's surface hadn't healed well since so long ago, since it's glassing by Covenant forces led by the same warrior that know walked alone on it. Koso Radumee once again raised his head to the sky, not wanting to look again at the charred bones of what looked like a pair of Twi'leks. Their charred skeletons were burnt and decaying to dust.

His travels across the dead world showed what little evidence remained of the inhabitants that once roamed. All that were left were the bones and piles of rock.

Koso was once legendary in the Covenant navy, leading the charge against the human's called the Republic, a government that recently changed drastically. And now he was nothing.

His campaign brought the deaths of billions, most of which were innocent beings on insignificant planets such as the one he walked on, Lothal, an insignificant world with no visible value. Just one of the hundreds of glassed worlds from the war.

It was his final conquest before the battle of the ark. The last battle he won, the last glory day of the Covenant. Before the schism, before the Empire.

He didn't know why, but Koso felt drawn to the planet in a way he couldn't understand. His once clouded nightmares now centering on the memories of this world.

He walked alone, with only his sword in hand, and a day's worth of food, for he didn't know how long he planned on walking.

Food was never a problem, the regret he now felt made sure he couldn't eat in such a scarred place. His stomach didn't allow him to have any appetite. He'll eat when his journey is over.

 _This planet is dead, killed by me and buried by war and glass._ He thought to himself as he walked past the battered skull of a human that barely could be recognized as anything more than a small pile of dust and fragments of rock.

The small mountain he finally hiked gave him a clear view of the once great city before him. He never knew it's name, and wasn't sure if he wanted to know it, if it even mattered now. For all that remained on the world were desolate cities, and that strange howl that filled his ear drums. This time he didn't react, foe he heard the distant howl enough to know wasn't a threat to him.

Koso once thought he had been alone, but then their was the howl of some canine, a howl that now acted as his only guide. He had to find the source. There he hoped for an answer, and that was all he cared for now.

 _How could anything survive on this rock?_ The question repeated in his mind. Nothing could, the planet was dead, Koso never heard of a creature that could survive glassing. All he knew was the howl was becoming louder the closer he got to the city. It seemed to be the only other thing on this planet, the only thing that didn't die.

He could've reached the origin of the howl hours ago, but he had to cross the destruction he caused. To see what he was so blind to ignore, the pain and suffering he caused on beings that had nothing to do with the great journey. Nothing to do with the lies.

He caused it, his hand, his command. Fueled by faith and plasma, Koso recalled the bloodlusted ambition to kill what he was told were heretics. The men, the women, and the children too. Not one was ever spared. Death and misery were the only path for the heretics.

The battles once gave him honor and pride. The victories once great.

 _But now all they bring me is pain, all they are is shame upon my name._

Koso walked forward, his tired eyes looked at the sun, it's warmth only bringing more memories of the pain he inflicted. The warmth of his blade cutting through clones that dared to stay in his way, the warmth of the chair he once commanded entire fleets in.

Koso didn't stop to look at anything, he couldn't bear to look very long. He simply continued into the streets, taking all the sights in at once. The structures around him were full of old bones of terrified creatures, full skeletons this time, unlike the more decayed remnants of people he came across along the fields.

The few walls that stood still were but a reminder of what this place used to be.

There was something he needed to find on this planet. Something to give him a purpose perhaps. Something was drawing him here, maybe a sign of the gods that may be, or the future wrath of an angry soul not wanting to die.

Whatever it be, he was drawn to it. Not like his draw to uphold the glory of the bastardly prophets he foolishly followed, no, those deceivers were nothing to him now. They fled after their defeat, their followers were left divided and easy to destroy.

He recalled once blindly trusting the pile of filth he once admired, the high Prophet of Truth. The leader of the Covenant and highest of the prophets, and how he was finally slain by the Arbiter.

He and his mongrel puppets, the brutes, betrayed his people, causing the Great Schism that ended the war. With the truth of the Covenant revealed, Koso no longer had purpose. He no longer had anything to guide him in this life, he no longer knew why he lived. How to live, how to continue. If he had no purpose, why was he still alive after everything? He deserved death, but suicide was a cowardly way to escape from reality. His anguish from deceit hurt him more than anything else.

Koso stayed in deep thought, ignoring the cracking of bones under his feet, he slowly marched forward onto a highway that ran towards a now shattered tower. His mind flashed to the past, when the tower once stood with its domed head, until the bombardment of plasma caused it to collapse easily.

It was the end of everything there. The end of all life on the planet, or so he thought,

The sun slowly fell behind the mountain ranges to the east, the night steadily replaced the day. Two dull grey moons now replaced the lone sun.

Koso took a breath, and finally placed his back against the wall of an old complex. He wondered for a moment who lived in the old building, but only for a moment. Two golden eyes dared to close, and he drifted into much needed sleep. His breathing slowed, and he quietly slept.

X

" _Commander, what have you brought to us today?" Truth asked, tapping his fingers together in an impatient manner while sitting comfortably on his throne. The throne room was majestic, covered in purple and gold plating, walls covered with banners of forerunner symbols, glyphs of their language._

" _Holy Prophet, an ambassador of the Kaleesh. A true warrior race." Koso gestured to the alien behind him, who was covered in cloth, weapons, and armor, with a mask resembling a skull on his face. Truth smiled slowly, and took a breath before speaking._

" _You're people seek revenge do they not?" He asked._

 _The Kaleesh General nodded. "The Jedi filth have caused us great misery, we want to put them in their place, graves."_

" _A noble reason." The Prophet smiled, lifting a single finger. The sign was enough for the two honor guards to bring in the captive. The green skinned humanoid struggle with no success, her attempts truly futile._

" _Jedi!" The Kaleesh warrior hissed as soon as he recognized her to be Jedi General Luminara._

" _A gift, you will find we are kind to those that serve in our mighty Covenant." Truth smiled._

 _Luminara looked up in fear, for once she was broken. Helpless, not something the powerful Jedi were accustomed to. But here she was. The Kaleesh turned to Koso, and his eyes widened slightly._

 _Koso lifted a lightsaber in his hand, and handed it to the Kaleesh. The alien smiled under his mask as the lightsaber ignited a beautiful green._

" _Do you know how many of my family were killed by this weapon?" The Kaleesh taunted Luminara for a moment. "It's the same amount of Jedi I'll kill with yours. I'll slaughter hundreds of your kind, with your head on my bed!" He laughed like a madman. The Kaleesh would gladly join a way against those they hated. Thousands of Kaleesh warriors would ready themselves for war, and newfound ability to enact revenge on the Jedi._

 _He finally swung into Luminara just as Koso laughed with him. As darkness fell over the memory, his laugh still remained, echoing._

 _X_

Koso awoke suddenly from his dreams, the howling in the distant came again. He realized only a couple hours went by. But it had to be enough, the sun was slowly rising again, he could see it in the distance.

 _I cannot stay here, not here. Not in this place, I must continue._

Koso quickly stood up, the night sky was a drastic change to the blistering sun, he took a moment for his eyes to adjust, and continued on. He paused briefly to look at the ruins he slept in, an wondered how many lived there. How many bones he slept on, how many children cried in the arms of their mothers.

Hours passed as he exited the city, the border marked by large and small bits of foundation.

The howl came once more as he closed in on a mountain. This time much louder, he knew it was near. He slowed his pace, preparing himself for whatever would lie ahead.

Something howled close by, causing Koso to dart to the floor, his sword handle drawn. The sound of movement, four legs, he counted in his mind as he searched for the source.

A four legged beast appeared, a massive wolf like creature sat in front of Koso. It gave off a feeling of danger, but didn't seem to pose a threat. It's eyes locked onto Koso's, and the two stared at each other. He kept his drawn blade, ever so cautious of the majestic creature.

The wolf howled again, images fueled Koso's mind not like a flood, but more of a thick mudslide. He saw images of the past, his greatest battle.

X

" _No! Please!" Koso cut the begging woman in half with his sword, the human's body laid lifeless, like the other dozen beings that attempted to hide from his wrath._

 _Koso stomped his foot into the skull of a crying child, silencing it and creating a red paste under his boot. He waved his sword into the air in a roar of triumph as a hundred banshees flew across the sky, followed by dozens of drop ships carrying troops and supplies. His fellow elites roared in return, their voices echoed in the city._

 _The planet was theirs. He didn't care to ask its name, for it wouldn't make a difference. It was just another of hundreds he would defeat for the Covenant. His gods would be pleased._

 _The Prophets foretold the planet holding something of sacred importance, a luminary. A gift of the gods, hidden deep within the planet._

 _The cruisers above the planet began digging, their energy projectors cut into the surface like knives through butter._

 _Koso roared at the sight of another victory. The few warriors that fought back valiantly defended their world, their warrior manner gave them victories. The people were true warriors, Koso would give them that. They fought hard and valiantly, proving to be more dangerous than the humans he normally faced. These were warriors. Their marks displayed their belonging to various clans, similar to the old way of the Sangheili. But it was all gone now._

 _The human's victories were few in number, and costed them greatly. Not much was shown for their efforts._

 _Dozens of carcasses littered the field of battle. Millions more across the planet. Those that ran, those that hid, and those that fought. They all laid together in death._

" _For the great journey!" He yelled and charged, meeting the brave resistance that fought back against the Covenant onslaught. Hundreds faced thousands, humans faced Covenant. The same story, different world, different individuals, but the same outcome._

 _Death. Meaningless death._

X

Koso shook off the memories and looked up to where the wolf sat, and was surprised to see it hadn't moved an inch. It simply stared, into his eyes, searching through his soul. It seemed the wolf penetrated his mind, his thoughts, an invader of the mind.

Koso tried to fight it off, but it felt overwhelming.

Voices began to fill his mind.

X

" _Death to the infidels!" His own voice shouted._

" _The journey is a lie!" Someone yelled defiantly._

" _Heresy!" His voice roared back._

" _The prophets have betrayed us." The Arbiter's voice sounded sincere, but Koso couldn't believe anything._

" _No! Blasphemy!"_

" _Fall back!" Humans shouted in fear, running into their bases when attacked by banshees and advancing lines of Covenant._

" _For the Republic! For humanity!" A clone bravely stood, facing the Covenant alone with a rotary blaster cannon, mowing down whatever he could as smoke and plasma filled the landscape. His cries were drowned out by the sound of gunfire and plasma artillery._

" _Koso, the prophets have betrayed us." The Arbiter said again. Brutes attacked Sangheili from all directions, savagely biting and smashing everything in their path._

" _No…" His voice said quietly, in denial of the truth._

X

It was almost too much.

"Get out of my head beast!" Koso swung his sword angrily, barely missing the still wolf by a mere few inches. The wolf didn't move at all, except when it breathed through its nose, it didn't fear or react to Koso whatsoever.

Koso backed up, until the temperature of the air around him changed, something was behind him. Koso turned quickly to face another wolf, it too stared, but also began to snarl slowly, a warning. Eyes locked again, and Koso cautiously backed away from the two wolves, his back against the mountain that he was walking towards.

"What do you seek?" A deep voice asked, Koso's eyes widened when he realized the words came from the first wolf. He was in shock, the animal was sentient. The wolf could speak. Obviously this was in no way normal, but with the things he's seen, could anything be called normal anymore? He just had to go with it.

"What." It said again. "Do you seek?"

"Purpose." He paused for a second. "Answers to why I still live. I saw this planet in my dreams, as well as your howl. You lived after the glassing, I need you to tell me how to live."

"Temple." The wolf whispered calmly. Its head turned back to the mountain peak, then back to Koso, who was still confused.

The wolves suddenly darted away, Koso blinked twice before realizing they wanted him to follow them. And so he did. He wouldn't let them get away, not when he still needed them.

He managed a steady pace, trying his best to keep up with the wolves. His feet collided hard with the glass and dirt as he leaped over a small ditch. Nothing was to slow him down. His mind chose to wander back to the battle of the Ark, but he shook his head and ignored the thoughts in his head. He didn't need to think about the betrayal again.

He ran forward for several minutes until the mountain was mere meters away. The mountain range extended for miles, it's end was no longer visible to Koso. The two wolves didn't slow down as they got closer and closer to the rock wall of the mountain. Instead, they ran _into_ the wall with a flash of light.

Koso stopped in his tracks when the light blinded him, he waited for a moment, and the light calmed down slowly. Two pictures of wolves appeared, akin to cave drawings, except they started moving. The left side wolf ran downwards, followed by its twin in a circle, but didn't stop. Koso must've blinked a dozen times before comprehending the scene.

The wolves soon ran in full circles rapidly, the light grew bright once more, energy glowing at its center. It was enough to draw Koso in. The desire to find an answer seemed to intensify, the need became great. So he slowly stepped forward, his hand reached for the glowing energy, and to his surprise, it went through. It was some kind of portal, Koso had seen many before, but not quite like this. He drew his hand back, glad to see it was still intact.

 _I have nothing left to lose._ He walked forward carefully, looking back at the barren wasteland behind him, and stepped in.

The cavern he now stood in wasn't dark, much to his surprise. He looked up to see the light source. Symbols and writing littered everything, the symbols were glowing similar to the portal the wolves made. A circular symbol glowed near the center, a smaller circle in the middle, an eye.

 _An oracle?_ He recognized the symbol immediately. His hands searched along the walls, all cluttered in forerunner glyphs he seen only in sacred temples. Koso stepped back to take it all in, and felt his foot step on something soft for once. He looked down immediately, it was a blanket. Koso turned to see what looked like the interior or an old shack. Small pots and other objects made up the corner by what appeared to be some sort of fireplace. Two mats as well as multiple blankets covered the floor. Small, unlit candles were collected on the table with a small metallic disk.

 _Someone has been here._ Koso drew his sword handle, but kept it deactivated for the moment. He didn't know if whoever inhabited the temple was friendly or hostile. His answer would soon come, as the sound of small, slow steps echoed the room.

A green creature, clad in a robe, walked from a carved stairway, a cane in hand. The creature was very small compared to Koso, and was clearly old, with wrinkled skin and small white hairs on his head. Koso relaxed, feeling the alien was no threat. But he stared cautiously regardless. The short alien walked forward without fear or hesitation, as if Koso wasn't even in the room, and sat down on a mat.

Koso took two steps back, staring at the strange alien. It's tan garb covered a brown shirt, it was dirty, not washed in many days at the least.

"Many questions, you have." The small green creature smiled at Koso. "Questions, I have as well. Lack purpose, you do. That I sense easily."

"I, do seek answers." He responded. "How did you -"

"Brought here for the same reason, we have." He interrupted Koso. "Sit down young Koso. Much talk we have, and so little time."

Koso reluctantly obeyed, and sat down on the mat across from the strange creature. _Maybe this creature can answer my questions. If he know's of the Forerunners, perhaps he can tell me what my gods want, and more importantly, what they want me to do._

He breathed slowly, before he asked the questions he had been tortured with, detailing his story and acknowledging his mistakes and the terror he caused. Master Yoda simply smiled at the confessing Elite, maybe there was hope.

 **So, I guess this is a sort of goodbye to Chronicles of War, my first story on this sight. One that I'm sadly giving up on. I really just can't fit it into my life.**

 **I apologize to my fans and those who enjoyed reading. I know, I kinda let you all down with this. Who knows, maybe one day i'll continue from here. I'll just have to see how things go in the future.**

 **If someone wants to take elements or even characters I made from this story and into their own, go right ahead. I hope ya'll enjoyed. If you did, please check out my other stories. And keep your eyes peeled, maybe I will continue from here. It's not like i've given up writing or anything, I've just stopped working on this project.**

 **Again, I hope ya'll enjoyed this, I find it to be some of my best work so far.**

 **Sword out.**


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